Guardians of the Colonies
by glitterdreamer95
Summary: France and England have set themselves to the task of raising their two colonies, America and Canada, because how hard could it really be? The kindergarten aged children show every promise of mischievousness, and the real question is can they get away with it? Featuring the FACE family. And slight AU.
1. Chapter 1

**~Ok, so here's basically a fluff story revolving around the FACE family that I wrote with the amazing, highly talented and imaginative writer, and best friend, Sebas-Chan001 (Who, by the way, is also posting a version of this story, only slightly different, because it's more focused on France/England. I recommend you check it out if you like the more intense {less innocent} area of fanfiction). One last thing, it is set in the modern day, so before anyone gets confused with history not lining up right….that's why. Other than that I hope you enjoy! J**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, or its characters… sadly.~**

"America, it's not poisoned. I just improved the recipe with some veggies. It's just healthier for you I promise." A very tired, and frustrated England sighed as he tried to persuade the young lad to eat his pile of vegetables, "Now sit down and eat your dinner. Even the vegetables, I want to see you eat it all." The brunette haired little colony shook his head in defiance and continued to push his plate away. "Goodness sakes, you are the most disobedient colony I have ever dealt with!"

"But heroes don't eat veggies!" The young boy declared as he tried to free himself from his seat.

"But you have to, and after this you have to come and learn about politics. You've been skipping your lessons for the past two days, and we'll have to go longer today in order to catch up."

"Heroes don't learn politics!" A scowl formed on his small lips as his arms were crossed, "They do hero stuff!"

"You can sit around bugging France and I all day, we have an important meeting to go to today, and no you can't come."

"Awe but why not?! "Changing the subject almost immediately the child started to cry. "America wants to go! America wants to go!"

"I...stop it. Not that face, no I said no..." The English country struggled as America continued to pull his childish pout, his innocent blue eyes almost popped out as he continued to plead.

"Please..." the colony whined, "I... I really want to go..."

"You can't come," England started to explain, "I already promised Canada he could come and there isn't room in the car with all the boxes."

"But there's always room for the hero!" America wrapped his little arms around England's leg and hugged it tightly, "Please let me come with you! I won't be a bother promise! I'll sit in Canada's lap so there's room! Please let me come!"

"I...oh alright. I suppose it would be simple enough to rearrange the boxes. And it would be a good learning experience for you," The Englishman paused to look the little colony straight in the eyes, "Just this once mind you, and you must promise that you will be on your best behavior."

America nodded excitedly, "Thanks daddy, I promise!"

"Alright, go and get your brother and your coat. We'll leave in a few minutes." England told him and then watched as the little colony ran down the hall to get his coat, and his little brother.

*at the meeting*

"America please sit down, and be quiet. Germany is trying to talk!" England scolded, as he tried to settle down the restless colonies. He watched horrified as America climbed up onto the table and began skipping around, tipping over several cups of disposable coffee as he did so.

"Hello everyone! In case you haven't heard of me yet I am America and I'm going to be your new hero from now on, 'kay?"

Britain blushed and grabbed for the red cape that the little boy had tied around his neck, making an attempt to restrain the child before he caused more chaos.

"America, come sit down, now!" England called, but America had already moved out of reach, strutting down the table.

"America AMERICA! The one who rescues all! America AMERRRRICA the one who'll never fall!" The small boy chanted as he went along, nearly stepping on Greece, who'd fallen asleep on the table. Britain began to blush profusely as he witnessed the scene his children were creating.

"Ohohoh." The sound of a chuckle could be heard directly across from him, in his own state of curiosity the blonde country lifted his head to see who possessed the chuckle. His emerald green eyes fell onto a set of eyes where the colors blue and green seemed to combine. "Oh Arthur." once the country named him, Arthur was able to get a better look at the culprit he was able to figure out that it was France who was trying to get his attention all along. "Is this what happens when I'm not home all day?" With the tilt of his head the other country asked suspiciously.

"Why don't you try to shut your damned mouth for once?" The over humiliated father replied, "They're your children too you know."

"Not now they aren't." France replied just as fast.

"Francis you frog!" The Englishmen yelled, his mind oblivious to the fact that his children were still parading down the table. It wasn't until Canada climbed on top of the table to join his brother when England regained consciousness of what was going on around them. "You two!" he began to yell once again, "Get down from the table this instant!"

"So, these are your infamous new colonies, Britain?" The very narcissistic, and mischievous Prussia asked while trying to hold back his laughter.

"It appears so…" Arthur sighed as the entire world's attention was revolved around the singing siblings.

"America!" The eldest of the two began, his voice loud and beaming with pride.

"And Canada!" The younger sibling sang as he answered his brother.

"Together side by side!" The two were singing together, their bodies walking together down the long table.

"America!"

"And Canada too!"

"We'll never let that dumb old England take our pride!" The entire committee began to gasp as their ears were filled with America's final lyric. Even when the small child was clapping in time to his invisible music the mocked country didn't even flinch. Canada was laughing at this point, his lips forming a smile that said this was nothing more but a game in his eyes.

"That's it, I've had enough of this nonsense! Canada, get down from the table now or you're grounded from maple syrup for a week. And America, you'll be grounded from WicDonalds for a month!"

"EH?!" The America gasped out in shock, "You can't tell us what to do you old fart! Come on Matthew, let's show this old tyrant we are not his puppets!" After that was all said and done the colony of boundless energy hopped down from the table and ran out of the room. "Down with Tyrants!" the threat of the child could be heard as it echoed throughout the narrow hallway.

Matthew began to giggle like this was nothing more than a fun game, and as he began to follow the footsteps of his brother he too departed as he yelled. "Yeah tyrants are bad people!"

"That's it," England said calmly, "No more staying up with you again my dear. I'm afraid your Historical documents only brainwashed our children." As the French country nodded in reply, and satisfied with his response, England rose from his seat and walked out of the meeting room; his composer was far calmer than anyone could have guessed.

"Now, now where could they have run off to?" He asked himself as he retrieved his book of spells from his back pocket. "Oh child hunting can be such a drag, I believe it would be far easier for me to just bring them to me with the power of black magic!" The worn out looking book was now opened at this point, and as he continued to hum to himself his eyes skimmed for the spell he was looking for. "Ah, here we are!" He sighed with a pleased smile on his face, "Perfect, now all that's left is to get them back here. Expectimus Protronetarus!"

England shouted the spell and felt the familiar presence of magic surging through his body, but when the colonies did not appear in front of him as expected, he let out a sigh and looked down at the yellowing page. He quickly realized that he combined the teleportation spell along with the spell above it, he cleared his throat and read the correct form, "Accio Expectimus!" The magic from the spell repeated its course through his body. The two colonies promptly appeared in front of the stern looking father, who snapped his book shut and gently grabbed their collars before they could run rampant throughout the building again.

"Let us go!" America squirmed.

"You two, I swear the headaches I get from just caring for you." England sighed, keeping his grip on the children, though ensuring that his grip was not tight enough to hurt the little colonies.

"Stop talking so loud, my head hurts." America complained, rubbing a tiny hand against his forehead. For a moment, England froze because he remembered his spell mishap before, and fished out the book again. After flipping back to the page he'd read from, and making sure there would be no other side effects of a spell misfire, he closed the book again and shoved it in his pocket.

"This is why I don't bring you to meetings. Now you're going home and if you aren't hard at work studying your history books when I get back, I'll let Russia pay a visit."

"I don't wanna go!" America whined while also taking a step from his father, so as to be out of the reach of his grip.

"I'm afraid being the adult here, you definitely do not have a choice in the matter. And if you don't come out to the car with me, I will carry you." England told the child, giving him a look that said he was not messing around. When the little caped nation did not move, England shrugged and picked him up, easily placing the boy on his hip, while taking the younger brother's hand.

"I WILL NOT BE MANHANDLED! RELEASE THE HERO!" The oldest brother screamed as his father brought him out to the parking lot and sat him in his seat.

"When will you learn, America, that listening is only going to get you good things." Arthur shook his head as he buckled the squirming 6 year old in place, "And as for you, Matthew," The green eyed father's attention now focused on the silent child, "If I ever see you pull such shenanigans again, I _will_ take away your syrup for a week, perhaps even longer!"

Canada's blue eyes widened as the horrid image crossed his mind. He obediently hopped into the other side and buckled himself.

England closed the car doors and called Francis on his phone as he got into the driver's seat, "Hello Francis, I've collected our little miscreants and I think it best that I take them home now, before anything else goes awry. Yes, of course I'm taking my car, so get a ride home later. Yes, Yes, see you later…..Kisses." England snapped the phone closed, placing in the seat next to him.

"Hmph! I will not be controlled!" Alfred tone set ablaze with a fury of rebellion.

"America be quiet for once, I'm trying to think." Arthur sighed, rubbing his forehead as a slight headache beginning to make itself known.

"No! I can't be controlled, I'm the hero!"

England groaned and looked in the mirror, unexpectedly taken aback by the adorable little country, who had his arms crossed and fiery defiance in his eyes. "I am trying to teach you two to grow up to be actual decent adults. I'm not trying to hurt you! How about when we get home, I'll make you some fresh blueberry scones? I know how much you love them"

The little blonde colony didn't say anything, but his little brother looked up and nodded. England fished around for his keys, and started the car.

"Can I have maple syrup on my scones?" Canada asked innocently.

"Of course! And after that we can have story time" Arthur told the youngest of his sons and then glanced at his watch, noting the late hour of the evening. "Assuming it's not too late. Don't you want to hear the tales of the Knights of the Round Table?"

"No! Not that dumb story again..." America mumbled, his head now resting on his hand as he gazed out at the passing scenery.

"I do daddy!" Canada exclaims, "I want to hear it! And eat scones!"

"America, you love hearing about the heroic knights!" Arthur protested, remembering many nights when the little colony would prance around with his wooden sword, assisting King Arthur with his many quests to save the realm.

"I'm the only hero..." His grumbled words say stubbornly.

"What about the Doctor, he's a hero!"

"I'm the hero! Everyone is supposed to back me up! I'm supposed to be the hero, not those phonies..."

"Can I be the hero too, America?" Matthew piped in quietly, looking to his brother hopefully.

"Of course!" America replied with a smile, "As long as you back me up! Because there can only be one true hero, and that's me!"

"Yay!" Canada jumped excitedly in his seat. Arthur stayed silent as he listened to the two in the back seat, but a smile did make its way onto his face as he continued driving, "What powers can I have?" Matthew asked the energetic Alfred.

"Any power that fits my powers best!"

"Ok," Canada nodded, but then seemed to remember that America was never decisive on what kind of hero he was and asked, "but what can you do?"

"I can save the entire world!" America's sea blue eyes lit up even brighter as he spoke to his younger brother, "It doesn't matter what's going on! If the world's in trouble I'll help them!"

"You can do everything?" Canada's eyes widened in disbelief, "But that's not fair!"

"Shut up you cry baby, all's fair when being a hero! You know that!" Alfred rolled his blues eyes to emphasize his point, to which Canada started crying and hugged his stuffed bear closer.

Upon hearing his son burst into tears, England spared a glance from highway 183W to give America a stern look in the rearview mirror, "Now America be nice to your brother."

"What," America replied in a very sarcastic voice, laced with a touch of know-it-all, "He should know that I'm the hero, and being such I deserve all of the awesome powers!"

"But I wanna have powers too!" Canada looked to his brother and pouted the words, "and if you have them all I can't have any!"

"Fine. You can make words appear in the sky, and whatever it says will happen," America consented with a sigh, after receiving another warning look from England, "Like if you say 'Fire wall' the words will appear in red and then a fire wall will appear."

"Ok, maple syrup will rain from the sky and slow the bad guy down for you!" Matthew told his brother, a smile breaking across his face.

"Aha sweet! Thank you little brother! Now I can really beat the bad guys!" Alfred replied, playing along with the sudden burst of imaginative role play in which he was in fact the hero who would save everything. After Alfred had said this, England drew his attention back to the highway, slightly shaking his head as if he wished they would never grow up.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, here's the next chapter, the third will be up in a couple weeks (sebas-chan001 is busy with other stories, and so am I). This chapter is written slightly different, as it is more from America's and Canada's POV, so be sure to check sebas-chan001 version, if you wanted to follow the progress of the adults as well! :) Also, tomorrow I will update my other hetalia story (Out of the Snow) for anyone who cares. :) Anyway, we don't own hetalia, but I hope you enjoy anyway!**

"Look out there's a giant waffle monster behind you, he's here to steal our pancakes," Canada cried out to his brother in a playful manner, continuing from where the two had left off when they'd pulled into the driveway. England left them alone and went into the kitchen to make the childrens' scones.

"Back foul breakfast beast," America yelled, swing his arms around as if he were fighting off the beasts with his fists, "Now's our chance Mattie! Let's show them who the real hero is!"

"Yay! Stampede of polar bears!" Canada pretended to write in the air as he called out to the army of white bears.

America began to laugh his little heart out his mind racing with hundreds of ideas but none was too interesting, so he settled with. "Yeah! Go Canada go!"

"Alright, alright," England said as he carried the still hot scones to the boys, "That's quite enough."

"Oh no! The waffle monster turned into the hero!" Canada tackled America playfully from behind and started, in his best effort, to tickle his older brother.

"Ah," The older brother yelled in his panicked state, "Knock it off, and knock it off!"

"Hug attack will cure you!" Canada smiled and Britain shook his head with a small smirk.

"Alright, that's enough Mathew," England reached down and scooped the younger colony off of the little hero and set him down at the table. Now freed of his brother's weight of his brother joined them at the table as England said, "The scones will get cold if you don't eat them fast."

Canada gasped at the realization, "Come on brother! We have to eat 'em before they get cold!"

"Yeah..." America replied, "or else they'll become my new hockey puck for the hockey season!"

"They already are." Canada whispered to his brother in a voice just soft enough that Britain couldn't hear it.

The two brothers began to giggle and this made their dad curious, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing" they say innocently. Suddenly France waltzed into the room, and he smirked behind their dad's back.

"Papa France!" The boys said innocently and full of merry and delight. "Welcome home!"

"Indeed." England replied, "What did I miss at the meeting? And how did you get home?

"Nothing much. And I got a ride from a certain Scotsman who owed me a favor. Are you handling the boys alright? You know," he stepped. Closer to Britain, "he owes me another one. Want to go out? He could watch the little...boys"

"I'm not little!" America protested.

England chuckled yet he couldn't help controlling the blush that swept across his face. "It's been ages since we had time to ourselves." He was completely oblivious to America and his little pouts, and the little hero noted to himself to think of different ways to get his father's attention.

"America and I can watch ourselves!" Canada said proudly, "we're heroes, we can handle anything."

"See? They seem to think we should go." France told him.

"Alright...fine." England sighed, "But you boys are getting a care taker!" America groaned in protest, "I'd like to know who this Scotsman is before we set out." England's attention was back on his husband.

"Oh, you know, just good 'ole Scotland" France said.

"No. Not him, he's too irresponsible. They could end up god knows where doing who knows what?"

"This isn't about your silly grudge, is it?" France asked

England's face beamed red, "Of course not!" He stuttered. "I'm just worried about them being in the hands of Scotland... How about Hungary? I know she'll do a great job, she always has."

The colonies watched their parents discuss the issue while enjoying their milk and doing their best to eat the fairly crispy scones.

"She's...busy with someone else. Come on, nothing bad will happen. Everything will be just fine. You have been way too tense these days"

The English country stayed silent, and a dark, tense silence surrounded them all before England spoke again. "Fine. But if something happens to them I will never forgive you."

"Good. Scotty come on in!" France called, and the confident ginger walked into the room

"Don't worry Iggy, these little tykes are in good hands!"

"W-w-what the bloody hell! Wait a minute! You...you…YOU!" England was furious if it wasn't too obvious already. The fact that he had the gingered country waiting at his beck and call was what really set him off.

"For the last time I am not little!" America yelled furiously.

"Calm down, my love." France told England.

"Yeah!" Canada agreed stubbornly, folding his little arms and sitting up in his chair in an attempt to look taller.

"Alright, alright, fine." England had his eyes closed as he regained his composure. "Their dinner is probably cold by now so help Canada heat them back up, I forbid you from touching my kitchen appliances. Canada likes maple syrup all over his and America will eat it as it is; make sure they drink their milk. After that they must have a bath, make sure the water is warm, almost cool but with a touch of warmth I will be able to see if you screwed something up. Then after that they get a near bed treat. Canada gets maple syrup in a Dixie cup and America gets a small diet cola. Not regular, he prefers diet and can tell if it isn't what he likes. Then they must go to bed at 8 o'clock. Not 12 not 7... 8. They may watch TV and when they go to bed you can watch it too. No porn."

"What does 'porn' mean?" The little American colony asked with his usual curiosity.

His dad's face went bright red and he shook his head, "Naughty adult stuff."

"Like what?" America prodded, finding his fathers' expressions very hilarious in his five year old mind. England's blush brightened and France shook his head.

"Don't ever ask about that again, America, unless you want to get into big trouble." France chided his son.

The ginger just chuckled, and a hint of mischievousness in his eyes that England did not catch as France led him from the room.

"Are you sure they'll be ok with...with him?" England asked his husband as they gathered their autumn coats from the entry hall closet.

"Wait, Daddie and Pappa!" America and Canada came rushing after their parents.

"What is it?" France smiled at the two colonies who approached them with stubborn looks on their faces.

"You were gonna leave without hugs!" The Canadian looked rather distraught and tears were threatening his face. France smiled and hugged the little child, then switched and gave America one as well.

"Yeah, if the waffle monster got you then he would eat you and I wouldn't have hugs!" America said as England enfolded him in a quick hug, after which he traded with France to give the little hockey player a hug as well.

"There, now you two better be good or you'll have to be punished." England reminded them with a stern look.

"We promise!" The children gave their parents satisfied smiles. They watched their parents leave and then wandered back into the kitchen and watched the ginger fumble with the microwave's keys.

"...Blasted thing, this model is too complicated for my tastes." Scotland muttered under his breath.

"When I grow up I'm gonna be the toughest hero there is!" America told his younger brother, getting bored with the adult in the room.

"A hero, huh?" Scotland asked, as the microwave began to hum.

"Yes! I'll save the world and be awesome!"

"I see." The ginger smiled, "What about you little guy?" His question was aimed towards Canada.

"Imma be the best hockey player hero!" Canada told him with a big smile.

The Scotsman chuckled, "Of course you will."

"What are those?" America asked, not liking the fact he was no longer the center of attention. He pointed to the duel holsters strapped to the adult's hips.

"These are my guns, for...er protection. They make me look pretty tough, don't they?"

"Uhuh! Can I try them?" America asked.

"Maybe later, let's check on your meal." Scotland walked over to the still humming microwave and let out a distressed sound and the black smoldering mess inside. He quickly opened the door and the window.

"Ew." The colonies said at the same time, although America scrunched his nose as he did so.

"Right, so that's not edible. What do ya got in the house, then?" The colonies watched him rummage through the cupboards, but he came up with nothing, "Ok, plan C who's up for Wicdonald's?"

"Me!" America squealed excitedly at the name of his favorite fast food chain.

"Me too!" Canada replied.

"Ok, let's go and when we come back maybe I'll teach you how to handle these guns." He smiled at them, then helped them into his car and made sure they were buckled before he got into the driver's seat.

About half an hour later, the trio returned. Scotland carried in three large to go bags, while the boys carried in their happy meals and drinks.

They sat down at the table, and unpacked their food.

"You sure your dad is ok with you eating this many burgers?" Scotland asked the child, and America nodded.

"Yep! All the time."

"Good enough, I suppose." The Scotsman shrugged, taking his burger and fries out then shuffling the rest of the burgers to the America.

Surprisingly, America was first to be done, and he proudly grinned at the shock on Scotland's face. Soon everyone else was done and then Scotland had the colonies help clean up.

"Can you teach us to shoot guns now?" Canada asked.

"Yeah, if my hero powers ever fail I need to have a backup!" America agreed, and they turned their pouting little faces towards the adult in the room.

"What harm could that do?" Scotland grinned, "Come on boys, we better do this out of the house or your dad'll have my head, or more."

The children skipped ahead into the backyard and eagerly bounced in place as their babysitter caught up with them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next part, I hope it is as enjoyable to read as it was to write :) Also, as a reminder, this story only tells the childrens' POVs(and in the version Sebas-chan001 wrote,is from the parents POV) so expect the stories to be told slightly differently (in case you read/have read both) but the end result will be the same. Just thought I'd point that out. Anyway, enjoy!**

When Scotland caught up with the colonies at the back door, he noticed the gray rain clouds above them.

"Oh no!" Canada looked worriedly at the sky, "I think it's going to rain."

"Rain only stops cowards." America told his brother matter-of-factly while a sudden downpour of rain started drumming against the wooden deck.

"No, rain stops smart people," Scotland told the young boy with a shake of his head, "I don't want to risk something bad happening because the ground is slippery, so we'll have to do something else until the rain stops."

"But..."

"You're pap and dad wouldn't appreciate my putting you two in danger. Now, how about we go get you two started in your bath? If I remember correctly, your dad instructed me to give you one."

"Can it be a bubble bath?" Canada followed Scotland back into the main room, with a sulking America behind him.

"Sure, kid, why not?"

"Yay!"

America and Canada waited in the living room while Scotland went to start the bath water. America, deciding he was bored with his goody-two-shoes brother, found his eyes wandering to the small end table with a drawer in it, beside England's sewing basket.

"Hey, Mattie, want to have some actual fun?"

"What do you mean? Scotland said we could take a bubble bath, and then we can play sea captains with our boats! I think that's fun."

"No, I mean like actual hero stuff." America murmured, walking over to the drawer and sliding it open.

"Alfie, what are you doing? Daddie said to never ever open that drawer." Canada hurried over to his brother, gently tugging his arm away.

"Aw, Come on Mattie. Do something fun in your life for once." America rolled his eyes at his brother's worried expression. He picked up a dusty, old looking book from the drawer and gave his brother a mischievous glance.

"America….that's….that's daddies spell book. We're not supposed to touch that!" Canada widened his eyes in horror as America started flipping through it, not paying attention to the younger brother, "I'll tell Scotland and you'll get in trouble if you don't stop."

The young boy's pleas to his brother drifted past deaf ears. Instead, America muttered curiously, "This one looks cool, it has a picture of a shadowy wolf above it. I bet this will help us to play hero."

"I...I mean it. I'll yell for Scotland!" Canada warned again, and after the mischievous colony did nothing in response, cried out, "Scotland! America's trying to do something we're not supposed to!"

"I can't hear ya up here, but I'm coming down!" Came the muffled reply, followed by the water turning off.

"Tattletale." America glared at the younger.

Scotland came running into the room a few seconds later, glancing between the glowering American and the frightened Canadian.

"What's going on?"

"America's trying to use Daddie's spell book, and we're not supposed to touch it! Daddie says it's dangerous!"

"America…." Scotland started, turning a serious gaze towards the other colony.

"It's ok! Nothing's going to happen! I've watched Daddie cast spells before and it's super easy! I promise nothing bad will happen. Mattie's lying so he can get me in trouble." America told the older country, hoping to get away with the lie.

"I...I'm not a liar!" Canada's eyes started to fill with tears.

"Somehow I don't think that's entirely true. I know your dad, and I also know that magic is dangerous. He definitely wouldn't want his little…"

"I'm not little! I'm hero-sized!"

"Whatever, the point stands that he couldn't want his 'hero-sized' son playing with dangerous magic."

"But...we can be actual heroes and save stuff if we use it!"

"No, I don't want to hear it. Let's put that book back, forget about it, and go take your baths."

Scotland gave the little hero a stern stare, until he obeyed and replaced the book in the drawer, closing it and grumbling about unfairness.

"Is the bath ready?" Canada asked, his fear fading away with the book out of sight.

"Yep! Let's get you two clean."

Scotland left the two in the bubble bath, with their plastic boats, and promised to be back to check on them in a few minutes.

Matthew was happy to begin playing with his toys, but paused when he noticed the sour look on Alfred's face.

"Come on, Alfie, let's play battleship! My boat is heading in to blow up your ship!" He grinned, making little boat noises as he sailed it across the bubbles. The attempt to cheer his brother up was successful, and America grabbed his boat.

"Not if we blow you up first!" America said with as much bravado as he could muster, blues eyes shining as he imagined moving his fleet into position. Secretly, he promised himself to go check out the spell later, when Canada wasn't around to tattle on him.

"Fire missiles!" America called out, flicking some bubbles at his brother with the best explosion sound he could make.

"Oh no! You sunk my battleship!" Giggled the Canadian, "Fire missiles back!"

He splashed some bubbles at his brother, and soon their toys were forgotten as their play had interrupted into an all-out splash battle. By the time Scotland returned with a couple towels and their pajamas, the two were laughing loudly, and water was all over the floor.

"Oh no! A civilian, let's call a cease-fire." Canada pretended to radio his brother.

"Roger that."

"Looks like you two had some fun." Scotland smiled, helping each toddler out of the tub and into their towels. Then, he helped dry Canada off and dress him. America stubbornly refused to be helped at first, claiming that heroes obviously didn't need help from anybody. In the end, he'd put his jammies on backwards and the Scotsman had to help him fix it.

"Scotland, did it stop raining?" America asked hopefully.

"Let's go check, shall we?" Scotland replied. He went over to the closest bedroom and peered out the window, "All clear."

"Yay! Can we shoot your guns now?" America and Canada gave their babysitter their best smiles, causing him to laugh.

"Well, I suppose. As long as you two promise to listen to me, we don't need any accidents happening, now do we?"

"Ok!" They agreed in unison.

Once they were in the backyard, Scotland had them watch as he taught them about the pistols he had in his holster. America frowned, bored of the adult who hadn't even let them touch the gun yet. All Scotland was going on about was stupid gun safety. Everyone knew that you didn't point the end of the gun at your face to look inside it.

"I'm bored! Scotland, you promised we could shoot the guns!"

"America, safety's important though!" Canada looked at his brother with a serious face, "Someone could get hurt otherwise!"

"Canada's right, America. But I was just finishing anyway. Now," He said looking at the yard, then gesturing at the old oak tree, "We'll use the tree as a target. Here, hold the gun like this, no don't put your finger on the trigger just yet. Ok, now feet apart, arms straight forward. Good."

Scotland instructed them, helping America get into a good position to shoot from. Canada waited patiently behind, watching wide eyed as his brother pulled the trigger and the shot chipped the side of the thick oak's trunk.

"That was awesome!" America squealed, letting Scotland show him how to load the chamber.

"Well done! You'll be a good shooter in no time!" Scotland praised the brave little colony.

"I wanna try!" Canada jumped in place.

Scotland chuckled, leaving America to try shooting the tree again, while he helped Canada to hold his other gun, giving him the same instructions, and helping him into the proper stance.

"Come on, Canada, let's shoot together and see who aims the best!" America grinned at his brother, who nodded in response.

There was a loud dual banging sound as the guns fired. The colonies' smiled at each other.

"That was so cool!" They said together.

"What's going on here," Came England's voice from behind them, on the back deck. Canada looked worriedly at him, hearing the anger in his dad's tone, "I demand an explanation!"

"Are you ok Daddie?" Canada asked, watching as his father nearly lost his balance as he wobbly made it down the stairs.

"I'm fine. What's going on?" He asked again.

"Scotland was teaching us how to shoot, like a real hero!" America grinned widely at his fathers.

"Shoot? A gun. What were you thinking? Do you have any idea what time it is?!" England demand of the Scott, "I knew this was a bad idea. Thanks for jinxing us and creating holes in my father's tree!"

"No, calm down Iggy. The boys wanted to have some fun, and well what's more fun than shooting stuff?"

"How about shooting things without bullets?!" England yelled, "You know they have Nerf guns right? What if something terrible happened! Bullets are dangerous! Especially in the hands of a child! Let's count your blessing for not injuring one of my children. But you will be in HUGE trouble for giving them actual guns!"

"Daddie we learned all about guns and how to be safe with them!" Canada told his father, wanting to explain to him that they were being safe and that he didn't have to be angry with Scotland, and scared for America and himself.

He was also oblivious to the scots shaking of his head as he said it, his red hair standing out from his pale skin.

"I don't care how _'safe' _you were being with those guns. Guns are dangerous, and should not, under _any_ circumstance, be played with by kindergartners!" England growled, "Out! Leave my house this instant! Never go near my children again! Oh, and what money you could have made is gone now. The authorities will be paying you a visit shortly." And with that being said, France told the boys to go inside the home, taking the guns from them as they did so. France followed them in, closing the door as the first shouts from the adults outside began to echo in the otherwise quiet night,

"Pappa, why is Daddie so angry?" Asked the still oblivious Canada

"Daddie is just mad at how Scotland ignored the instructions he gave him and put your lives in jeopardy." He hugged the boy, "I'm just glad you're safe."

Outside, Canada saw Scotland walk away, his red hair matching his red cheeks. England staggered back into the house, and let out an exasperated sigh as he closed the door. Canada and America yawned in unison. France gave them a soft smile, picking up the sleepy America and catching the other father's eye as he headed towards the stairs. England picked up Canada, and followed up the stairway.

"You," England muttered to his husband, "You are going to give me two massages tonight. And not so rough this time, the last time you gave me a massage it almost broke my back. I thought you were French, but you honestly lack in the Romance department."

"I've clearly been holding back." France replied.

They reached the colonie's shared room, and as Britain was tucking Canada in his bed, across from America's, the tiny colony hugged him.

"Daddie I'm sorry we made you mad. I just wanted you to be proud of me."

"I am Canada." He replied softly and kissed the boy's temple, "So very, very proud of you and what a great country you're becoming. I love you."

"Love you too Daddie..." Canada said, his eyelids drooping shut.

England smiled and went over to America to kiss him and tell him goodnight as well, only to find the older brother already sound asleep.

America woke from his sleep, finding that he really needed to use the bathroom. He clambered out of his blankets and crept into the silent hallway and into the bathroom. Once he finished washing his hands, he paused. Wasn't there some hero stuff he was going to do, when Canada wasn't around. _Oh yeah, the spell book!_ America smiled at himself in the mirror, shutting the lights off he headed back into the hallway.

He was about to go downstairs, when he realized that if his parents were awake, they would surely hear him and send him off to bed, and he'd probably lose videogame privileges again. So, he went opposite of his and Canada's room, and leaned against the master bedroom's door. It was silent on the other side. He was glad that his parents were sleeping as well.

Carefully not to make a sound, he crept down the stairs and into the living room, pausing only once on the step that always squeaked really loudly. All the lights were off, so it was up to his hero senses to navigate the darkened house. The little hero was proud of himself, only stubbing his toe once, on his way back to the end table.

He took out the old book again, and flipped through it until he found the drawing of the shadowy wolf again. The words were in some weird language, so he tried his best to pronounce them. As the last sentence left his lips, a sudden black portal appeared, and out stepped a growling beast. His previous bravado left him, and America screamed as the creature lunged at him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, so here's the next part of the story (a bit late, but nothing can really be done about that at the moment... but in the future certainly). Anyway, there will be a new chapter soon (for both Sebas-chan001**** and myself) pertaining to this story so there's that :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, it was pretty fun to write.**

America barely had time to blink, before suddenly the shadowy wolf was on top of him, pushing him to the ground and tethering him there. He struggled to push the beast off, and his hero powers seemed to be out of order, because he was unable to remove the wolf. A low, unearthly growl rumbled through its body, before its jaws found his shoulder and bit down. America screamed as the well, because he could feel sharp pain as it dragged its paws back. His vision was getting blurry teeth sunk into his shoulder, horrible tearing pain shooting through his body. The wolf's claws had somehow managed to latch on to his sides as, the wolf's image, which had been smudged to begin with, started to blacken.

He sensed someone behind him shouting words that sounded like ones from a spell, and the wolf yelped backwards as black flames engulfed it and took it back to its dimension. Then England was next to him, holding him up.

"America?! What happened?" His father asked, causing many tears to start streaming down America's face.

He tried to explain to England, through the uncontrollable sobs, what had happened, but the words came out a garbled mess. America gave up after a minute, giving in to the need to cry, and made an attempt to move closer to his father, and snuggle with him. It was hard to move, his shoulder and side were throbbing and even more pain happened when he did move. England wrapped his arms around him, and America felt the slightest bit better, but the guilt of what he had done dragged him back down.

"Shhhh. It's going to be ok now. It's alright Alfred, I'm here." His father told him.

America's eyes were growing heavier, it was harder to concentrate, but he thought he heard France grab the phone and Canada saying something about the spell book that was now laying on the floor nearby. He felt his father take in a breath of air, then England's face was practically pressed to his own.

"America, listen closely, I need to know which spell you cast," He paused to search his eyes desperately, "Which one?"

"You…you'll be mad." America managed to reply.

"I promise I won't. Please, Alfred, Daddie needs to know. It's very important."

"It was...the first one I saw... The one that sent the shadow wolf," He paused as a sob overtook him, then finished in a fading voice, "I'm so sorry Daddie."

He didn't hear his father's reply, because his vision blackened and he found he could no longer fight the incoming slumber.

*Canada's POV*

Matthew wasn't sure what was worse: his brother being mauled by a very scary monster, or the panic he saw in France's eyes. Canada was scared for his brother, there had been so much sticky blood. He couldn't help the tears that were falling from his face as France drove the car.

"Is Alfie going to be ok?" He asked from his car seat.

"I don't know." France snapped, which caused Canada to start bawling.

"No! Alfie's gonna die and it's all my fault!"

"No, no. I didn't mean that, Matthew. I'm just worried, which means you don't have to be."

"So Alfie will be ok?"

"Yes, I'm sure he will. Alfred is a strong boy." France looked back and gave Canada a smile, then returned his gaze to the wheel.

Canada wasn't sure that he should believe his Pappa, but decided to anyway. He wiped his tears away from his now puffy eyes, and spotted a small toy hand sticking out of the pocket behind Pappa's seat. He squirmed, and found he was just able to grasp the small plastic toy. The seat belt that held him back fought him as he reached to grab for it, and finally managed to pluck it out. Canada stared at the small toy, which was one of Alfred's superhero dolls. It was a red and white colored doll, the name of which Canada never really remembered. He grasped it close, thinking of how his brother and him and played with their action figures so many times before.

"Pappa!" Canada squealed suddenly, "Pappa! Look what I found!"

France glanced in the rearview mirror, and little to known to Canada, nearly ran over the line in the road.

"What is it, Mattie?" France asked.

"I found Alfie's favorite soldier!" Canada beamed, his tear stained cheeks shining now against his smile.

"Oh, that's wonderful!"

"Do you think I could bring it in for Alfie? Do you think it would make him better, faster?"

"Yes, of course you can bring it for him. And I do believe it will help him get better." France smiled at Canada in the mirror.

Canada hugged the little piece of plastic close to his heart, imagining the healing powers it could have. Maybe if Alfie got his toy, then he wouldn't be mad at him for not stopping him from going to the book. Matthew did not notice the rest of the 35 min drive, nor the particularly bad driving on his Papa's part (Nearly hitting 3 cars, and running enough red lights to light up a Christmas tree).

Canada bounced impatiently in his seat as France pulled the minivan into the hospital parking lot, which was almost completely full. Matthew thought he heard France murmuring about bad parking and some other words that Daddie had told him never to say.

"Why are you using the bad words?" Canada asked, as the minivan bounced into the parking garage.

"I didn't, Matthew, Pappa was just talking about how much he enjoys fudge cake." France told Canada, who happily believed him, "Just don't tell Daddie, ok?"

"Why?"

"I'll let you take your maple syrup to bed again for a little while."

Canada thought about the maple incident not too long ago where, in an effort to get the last drops of syrup out of a bottle, he had unscrewed it. While he had been getting the last drops, he had knocked over the diet soda on the table next to his bed (Alfie's idea of a good bedtime snack). Incidentally, his pillow had smelled of the nasty stuff for months. And he had been grounded from his bedtime snack for what seemed like forever.

"Ok! I promise I won't tell Daddie!" Canada promised happily.

Finally, the car stopped and France helped Canada out of the van, and took hold of his hand as the crossed between the rows of cars. When they entered the hospital, Canada noticed that there were lots of people milling about, doctors and nurses and sad people all around.

"Why is everyone so sad?" Canada asked, turning his big eyes up to see his father's face.

"They're not, only some of them are."

"Pappa!" Canada squealed happily, "Look balloons!"

The balloons in question were in the front of the shop, and they were all shiny and had all sorts of characters on them. Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob, and Superheroes.

"How nice."

"Pappa, can we please get one for Alfie? Please?"

"I don't know that he needs a balloon." France told Matthew.

"But balloons always make people happy," Canada fished around in his jacket pocket and produced a couple of coins he had been saving, "Here I have money, I can pay for it."

"Oh, alright." France smiled warmly at Canada, "Here's some money for the tax."

Canada took the bills Pappa handed him and then led the way into the shop.

"Hello," Smiled the lady by the register, "Do you need help with something?"

"I think we're alright." Pappa said.

"We're getting a balloon for my big brother."

"Oh, that's fun! Which one?" She asked.

"The super guy!"

"That one?" The clerk asked, her red polished nails pointing towards the direction of the super hero close to the register.

"Yes! He's the most super of all the heroes," Canada jumped a little as she reached for the balloon, "And look I have my own money too!"  
Matthew held out the small pile of coins and the couple crumpled bills.

"My, my you truly are a sweetheart." She said as her lips formed into a smile. As Canada handed her the crumpled bills, she continued to smile as she punched the numbers. As the till opened, and the receipt came out, the lady quickly hid the child's bills into the paper and handed Canada the receipt and balloon. "Here you go darling."

"Thank you!"

"Come along, Matthew your brother and Daddie are waiting for us." France prodded gently.  
"Ok, thank you again!" Canada smiled at her once more, before taking France's hand to follow him out into the lobby.

The two could hear the clerk wishing them a wonderful evening before entering the room America was in. England was right by his son's side, his body was kneeling on the ground, his head was laying against the soft mattress.

"Daddie?" Canada asked softly, a little worried by the state his father was in.

The Brit's head jerked upwards, his eyes already began to sag and a snore left his body subconsciously. "Yeah?" He mumbled.

"I brought Alfie some stuff." Canada said shyly.

The Brit's head jerked upwards, his eyes already began to sag and a snore left his body subconsciously. "Yeah?" He mumbled.

"I brought Alfie some stuff." Canada said shyly.

"Oh Canada." England said, "That's so sweet of you." he ended his sentence with a smile. "I know he'll love it."

"Is he awake?" Canada stepped closer to the bed and tried to get a good look at his brother. The balloon, which was grasped in his tiny fist floated behind him.

"Canada?" Came a small voice from the bed.

"Alfie!" He cried happily, jumping up onto the bed and scrambling around the wires in order to give his brother a hug.

"Easy!" England gasped, his overprotective instincts took over his body as he reached for the Canadian.

"He's okay." The calming voice of France seemed to take a hold of the Brit's nerves. "He's just excited to see his brother again."

Alfred hugged his brother back, though not as strong as he usually did.  
"Look Alfie! I found you're superhero guy!" Matthew held up the small, plastic soldier and placed it in his brother's hands.

"Where was it?!" He asked. His blue orbs seemed to shine like a glowing star as he was reunited with one of his long lost toys.

"In the car silly! You must have left it there and forgot." Canada teased his brother, as he settled next to him. It was always moments like this, nestled side by side, that the brothers could melt away the problems of the world and just be enveloped in each other's words.

"So what did the doctor say?" France asked his husband as they took their seats in the chairs beside the bed.

"I'm not sure." England sighed, running his hands across his face, "That's what we're waiting on."

There was a knock on the open door and everyone looked up to see who it was.  
"Uncle Scotland!" The boys cried happily, although the parents looked quite soured by this turn of event.

"What do you think you're doing here?" England said in a dangerously cool tone.

"Amour..." Francis whispered into Arthur's ear, "I don't think we should discuss this at the moment."

"For once, I have to agree with you husband, dearest brother." The scot said.

"Uncle Scotland look!" America said softly, due to his voice being a little weaker than normal, and gestured to his now rolled up shirt. His stitches were now in plain view for everyone on the room, "I've got battle scars now just like you!"

The ginger inhaled a breath through his clenched teeth as he saw the rather harsh wound. France couldn't stop himself from staring, and Canada gasped for his reaction.

"America, put your shirt down! You'll rip your stitches for sure!" Exclaimed a panicked England. America, in response, muttered an inaudible phrase and showed a scowled face to his dad.

"But I wanna show Scotland how awesome these scars will be!" Retorted the defiant little child.

"America." England said, his voice was already giving his child a warning, "Do as I say." France assured the boy by quickly nodding.

America rolled his eyes then slowly replaced his shirt and covered the injury.

"I'm sorry, lad." Scotland told him, a shake of his head in the way adults portrayed guilty remorse.

"You should be." Said a terse England.

"Look, I said I'm sorry." He said, tension already starting to build up in his shoulders.

"What kind of adult would give a gun to a child?!" England said, "Do you know the full damage of what you've done?! My children could be taken away from me!"

"They were fine. I remember the days we were their age, and we'd have target practice every day." The Scott retorted.

"Times have changed." The Brit said back, "And our home is not like the one we grew up in. We don't have the luxury of having many acres. My neighbors are only a few yards away. They could see everything."

"You need to calm down, little bro. They were perfectly safe, I was watching them the entire time."

"If you wanted to teach them to shoot you should've used blanks, not actual billets!" The angered country declared, his eyes were full of rage, "And you DO NOT tell them to aim at our father's tree!"

The Scott's cheeks now matched his red hair, and he opened his mouth to reply when a nurse came in with a plate of food.

"I had better be going." Scotland said, and quickly left before the family could be embarrassed any further.

"Is everything alright?" The nurse asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Quite." England groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"Just a quarrel between my spouse and his brother." Said France.

"Papa, what's a quarrel?" Canada asked.

"It's when two people disagree." The nurse replied and smiled at the youngest boy.

Canada became pretty shy, and attempted to hide behind his brother from the strange lady.

"Are you Alfred?" The nurse asked, after letting out a light laugh at Canada.

The quiet colony's faced seemed to be the same shade of red as his favorite hoodie. He continued to hide behind his brother, who nodded at the nurse's question.

"Okie dokie. I brought you some food." She offered the tray to America with an encouraging smile, "And for your brother, he can have a sucker if he wants."

The nurse expertly pulled out a sucker from her smock's pockets and held it out to the shy nation.

He grabbed the sucker that was extended to him, and replied to England's reminder of "What do you say to the nice lady, Matthew?"

"My, my." The nurse said with a wide grin on her face, "Such well-behaved boys you have."

"I don't like vegetables." America said not a moment too soon.

"Oh, what a shame. I thought you were a hero." The nurse said, look back at the parents with a sink.

"I am!" Alfred said confidently.

"Well, did you know that only the best heroes eat their vegetables?"

"That's not true!" America argued, although he looked quote uncertain about his answer.

"Mmhmm, it is. And do you want to know a secret?" She asked leaning close to his ear as she continued, "these veggies will give you better superpowers."

The boy stared at her with widening blue eyes. "Ya really mean it?!"

"Yep, but you have to eat the veggies to get them. And make sure not to tell anyone, it's a superhero secret." She gave Alfred a fake wink, and left the room as he started to gobble the vegetables down.

The two parents stared in awe as they watched their son, a notorious vegetable hater, eat every single one without complaint.

"There's no way..." England stuttered to his husband, "It could be that easy."

"I guess we were wrong." France replied.

"And I used every spell I had in the book and it had no effect! Then she talks to Alfred for one minute and they're almost gone! She must be a witch..."

"My love, how are you glossing over the fact that he didn't complain when Canada got a sucker and he didn't?" France whispered.

"Were you not listening?" England whispered back, "Witchcraft is the answer to this Sorcery."

"Witchcraft is your explanation to everything, ever since your dark ages." France chuckled.

"Are you going to argue that what she did was, in fact, not witchcraft?" England challenged his husband.

Canada had, at this point, watched his brother eat some really yummy looking food and was starting to feel his stomach grumble. When America had finished eating he had whispered a plea to his little brother to put the tray on a table for him. Matthew did so, and by the time he had returned to the bed to tell his brother about the balloon he'd picked out, Alfred was fast asleep against the hospital pillows. No one seemed to remember that it was late in the night, or that they had been drug out of bed of for this.

"Pappa? Daddie? I'm hungry." Canada said quietly.

"What's that Matthew, you're hungry?" England asked, his son's questioning voice bringing him back into parent mode.

"Well, let's go get some food, it looks like your brother could use some rest anyway." France said, taking one of the small child's hands while England took the other. The three of them strolled out of the room, and headed in the direction of the hospital canteen.


	5. Chapter 5

**I just wanted to mention that when Canada make believes, he thinks of the world as the made up world. So if he is playing with someone, they are then referred to as their make-believe character until they're done. I hope you guys enjoy this one! :D (There is a new Out of the Snow chapter coming within the next couple days, just as an fyi)**

Chapter 5

Daddie led Canada out of the hospital, hand in hand, while Pappa strolled behind them. Even though Daddie didn't seem too interested in watching for cars, Canada made him look both ways before crossing each lane. After all, what good was a hurt Daddie? _No good, because then he couldn't play make believe 'Wizards and Warriors' edition._ Canada hopped up into his car seat and England helped him buckled up the tangle of restraints.

"What do you want to eat?" England asked, as he climbed into the driver's seat and started the car with his keys.

"I wanna eat...pancakes!" Canada squealed with happiness, imagining the maple syrup he could eat with said fluffy, doughy pastries of goodness.

"Alright, I'll make you some at home." Daddie said, smiling in the rearview mirror.

"Maybe you should leave the cooking to me, _Daddie_," France teased England with a chuckle, then to Canada he said, "How about I make you a stack of fresh flapjacks? I'll even put maple syrup in the batter."

Canada's eyes bulged out of his head, and he jumped excitedly and as well as he could, considering he was well secured in his seat. As they started backing out of the parking lot, Pappa turned on the radio and it started playing the nice music that Canada liked, the pretty and slow type with the piano and guitar. During the journey home, Canada was singing about his love for maple syrup, making up words to the songs that played. At one point France joined in, making up his own verse while England hummed along.

When they got home, England got out of the car. France hurried into the house, promising Canada he would make the flapjacks as quick as possible. England was about to head in, when Canada coughed softly from his seat.

Daddie turned and looked at Matthew with a raised eyebrow, "Aren't you coming out?"

"Yeah, but as a hero, I need to ride on the shoulders of an awesome steed to receive me heroic gifts of pancakes!" Canada smiled, proud of the fact that he had used some big words that he had heard Daddie saying.

"Oh I see, that is quite the predicament. We wouldn't want such a valiant knight to lose his reward for questing," England said, grabbing the little country softly and swinging him up to sit on his shoulders.

"Weeee! I'm flying, I'm flying! Just like a real hero!" Canada dared to raise a hand in the hair, while the other ensnared itself in his father's hair. They galloped inside the house, and into the living room where England made a few circles in a horse like manner, while Canada supplied the horse sound effects.

Suddenly, England sprinted forward, "Oh no! The horse is out of control!"

He started to run as fast as he could and then swerved into the couch, where he deposited the now giggling colony. Canada, upon landing, scrambled to stand on the couch and placed his hands at his waist like Superman did on the comic book covers, "Look Daddie, I'm Super Pancake Boy!"

"And I'm the evil waffle monster!" The Evil Waffle Monster proclaimed loudly, in a pirate-like accent, "Fear me Pancake Boy! For I came to take _all_ of ye maple syrup!"

Then, the Evil Waffle Monster moved closer and tickled the little colony, who was now laughing uncontrollably. Canada tried to squirm away, but Evil Waffle Monster had him pinned, and as a result he made the tickling worse.

"Tell me where ye hide yer maple syrup!" He said, as he continued to tickle the Canadian.

"Never!" Canada squeaked and then thought of an idea, where he reached out to his father and attempted to tickle him back. Matthew happily noted that the waffle monster fell back onto the floor as he followed suit.

"Aah! No!" Evil Waffle Monster cried, "Tickles! My only weakness! Aah!"

"Pancakes are ready'' France called from the kitchen.

"Yay! You'll never get my maple syrup! I'll get there first!" Canada said in his best imitation of America's hero voice, which failed slightly because he hiccupped at the end. Then, before the Waffle Monster could get into the kitchen, used his powers of maple syrup to run into the kitchen, where a tall stack of steaming pancakes sat at his place at the table.

"We'll see about that!" England called out and as he lumbered into the kitchen.

"Such a shame," France said as the other blonde entered the room, "The waffle monster has been beaten."

"I won't lose that easily next time." The Englishman said as a reply, "So how did Pappa do on the pancakes?"

"Yumm!" Matthew replied, creating a lake of syrup that all but covered the pancakes, and dribbled a little onto the table.

"Careful, Canada." England chided from the sidelines, not feeling like giving his youngest a bath on account of a swim in Lake Sugar.

Matthew nodded, too focused on his delicious meal to notice the parents murmuring to each other. When there was a pause in their conversation, however, Canada looked up at Daddie and gave him the best smile he could, but with the pancake stuck in his mouth, and some syrup dripping out, it was a little hard to manage.

"No, I suppose not." Daddie commented, ruffling Matthew's hair ever so slightly, then glanced at the clock and yawned, "Oh goodness. I'm tired, is anyone else tired too? Or am I the elephant in the room?"

"I agree. Canada, it's time for bed." France told the little boy.

"Ok..." he replied, taking one last spoonful of syrup into his mouth, before hopping after his dad, as they left the kitchen, however, he cast a longing glance at the half finished Lake Sugar. Matthew washed his face in the bathroom, then fought back the sudden tiredness as France tucked him into bed.

"Goodnight, Pappa." Canada said sleepily, fighting the heaviness of his eyelids, which was a losing battle. As he lay his head onto his pillow, he closed his eyes and felt Pappa give him a kiss on the forehead. Then the light switch went off and Canada drowsily gave into sleep.

_A few days later._

Canada awoke with his head hanging off the edge of his bed, and his pillow scattered across the floor. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at his clock, which was on an end table pressed against the wall. Upon seeing the clock, a shriek escaped his lips as he half fell half scrambled off his bed.

On the wall was a huge, black and ugly monster. It was circular with eight scary looking legs helping it to move. It was crawling along the wall like it had no care in the world. It was also getting ever closer to Canada, with only his bed left to cross.

"Daddie!" Canada shrieked loudly, terror rising in his chest as the scary spider got even nearer, "Daddie there's a spider!"

At first, there was no response, but Canada thought he heard the quiet murmuring from down the hall, where Daddie and Pappa's room was.

"Hurry Daddie it's coming getting closer!" Canada tried again, before hiding his tiny body underneath his brother's covers, making more space between the beast and himself. Daddie came in the room and looked to where Canada pointed, the spider now on top of the clock. Canada covered himself almost completely, making only a small peep hole to make sure Daddie got the scary thing.

"There!" England said triumphantly, clutching the now dead spider in the tissue, "It's ok to come out now, Canada, everything's alright now. Do you want to go see America?"

With the sound of his brother's name ringing in his ears the young colony leaped from the bed. "I want to see big brother!" He chanted, over and over as he gave England a good morning hug.

"Alright, change out of your pajamas and we'll go make breakfast."

Once England had left, Canada went to his chest of drawers and pulled out his clothes for the day. He grabbed his white and red maple leaf sweatshirt, and some jeans, and of course his Captain Canada boxers. With his pile of clothes nearly covering his face, he made his way into the bathroom where he changed, and brushed his teeth (but only because Daddie could always tell when he didn't and Pappa had said the tooth fairy would steal his teeth if he didn't). With this done, he dropped his clothes down the laundry shoot and skipped down stairs. About halfway down, Canada paused and saw a little black figurine resting on the steps, and recognized it as the Batman toy that Alfie loved. He picked it up with his little fingers and proudly strode into the kitchen, holding out the toy for his parents to see.

"Daddie look I found Alfie's second favorite action figure! I thought he might want it on the car ride home!"

"What a perfect idea, Matthew," England paused, "I'm sure he'll love to see that you brought him something on the day he comes home."

"Oui." France said in agreement, "Now come on, let's eat before our meal gets cold."

As they finished their meal, consisting of scrambled eggs and leftover pancakes, the phone rang. France started to clear the table, with Canada helping as best he could, though he was barely tall enough to reach the counter, let alone wash the dishes. England picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

There was a pause as the person greeted England back, then Daddie sighed, "Prussia, he's fine."

"Can you tell Prussia I say hi?" Canada asked out of curiosity, which Daddie nodded absent mindedly.

"Thanks, but no thanks." England said, "Tell him that we are going to take care of our child rather than attend his meeting. Our deepest apologies. And also, Canada says hello." And before he could hear the Prussian's response England ended the conversation and put the phone back to where it belongs. "Is everyone ready to go?"

"Yes!" Canada said.

"Ah, first you need your jacket. It's fall time after all."

Canada let England help him into his jacket, before bouncing away into the car.

"My, my! What an energetic one you are!" England exclaimed, "I wish I had the energy you have!"

In answer to Daddie's wish, Pappa whispered something that Canada couldn't quite hear, "Daddie?" Canada said, "What are you and papa talking about?"

"Ummm..." England started before France butted in.

"You'll find out later in life."

"But why not now?" He asked, because why wouldn't they tell him now? He was a big boy. Canada felt his curiosity peaking, because if his fathers were avoiding answering it was obviously worth asking about.

"Well..." England squirmed a little in his seat.

"It's because you won't understand until you get older." France said.

"But why papa?"

"Why do you want to know all of a sudden?" Pappa raised an eyebrow at Matthew.

"Because I am a big boy and I always see you and Daddie talking, but I don't know what you're talking about..." He said.

"You'll know when you get older."

"Why?"

"Here. Take the syrup and the cup." England said with a sigh, "No more questions okay?"

"Okay Daddie!" Canada said as he already began to fill his cup with sweet syrup.

"And don't spill it in the car." The young boy nodded and began to enjoy the syrup.

On the way there, Daddie and Pappa began talking in their weird way again and, while Canada _did_ try to get an answer as to why they talked in ways he couldn't quite understand, it inevitably ended with Daddie snapping at him to continue having his delicious syrup.

He was excited to see his brother again, and wondered what it would be like when America came home. Hopefully, he would want to play with Matthew. The house had been so boring without his older brother to play with._ Plus the fact that I am totally gonna win our next hero battle. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back to this story! Don't worry, it's still the same, the title has changed because of a hilariously long winded story. Here's the short version: A few weeks ago my friend (and co-author *cough* sebaschan001 *cough*) was talking about this story, and a random though occurred to me.**_**Hey,**_**I told her,**_**You know what's funny? If you changed your story's name to go F*** the Countries.**_**It was meant as a joke, but she took to it like an overused cliché in a chick flick. So naturally, I changed mine to Guardians of the Colonies instead of Guardians for the Colonies. I know. Big change, almost too big to handle. Oh, right so when I was moving this file from my dad's computer to my laptop, the spacing got all weird. I think I fixed them all, but if you see any weird spacing...thats why...****  
****Anyway, this chapter ended up so long that we split it up, and it was still super long... so yeah. ****Hopefully this makes up for the long period of no new chapters, for which I am very sorry about by the way ****Don't forget to check out Sebaschan001 version, its more focused on the adults. I also don't own hetalia, don't worry I've checked...**

** Hope you enjoy!**

"Daddie!" Canada began to yell at the top of his little lungs, "America is turning into a prune!"

Canada stuck his tongue out as America splashed him. They were seated in the tub together, playing submarines with their town boats that floated among the sea of bath bubbles. They were in the middle of an intense battle, of which there could only be one survivor. Canada had already lost two of his five ships, and America had only lost one. This, however, did not cause the Canadian to lose faith in his hopeful victory. If he could just get passed America's defenses, he would be in the clear. His brother, it seemed, had other plans as he did not even blink as he loudly yelled his reply and promptly  
bombed another of Canada's ships.

"Canada's turning into an old person!" America countered, the sound of splashing water and laughter rippled into the air as Canada was attacked with a barrage of bubbles. He retaliated, giggling as he splashed back, causing a wave of bubbly water to splash over the tub.

Papa and Daddie walked in, each one grabbing a colony with their big fluffy towels and lugging them into their bedroom. America complained when Daddie said they should wear something nice to Hungary's house, as he had wanted to wear is superman shirt with the attached cape. Daddie told him that he couldn't go if he wore that particular shirt.

"But I hate that stupid fancy shirt!" America detested, pointing to the formal pink shirt with the buttons down the middle and the collar that Papas aid was for a tie.

"Y...Yeah. I...don't wanna wear fancy stuff either." Canada agreed softly.

"Do not worry, Canada," Papa reassured him, "You can wear your normal red shirt with the maple leaf. You like that one, do you not?"

"Yeah!" Canada smiled. He remembered earlier that morning, when Hungary had called and asked them to dinner. Papa had put her on speaker, so that they all could hear. She asked how Alfie was doing, then promised Canada she had a whole bottle of maple syrup with his name on it! He'd blushed happily, realizing that he hopefully wouldn't have to share with his brother.

After they were suitably dressed, Canada still wasn't sure how Daddie did it with Alfie's stitches, they clambered into the car. France took the wheel and England sat in the passenger seat.

"I wonder how many maple dishes they'll have!" Canada exclaimed, his tiny body was eagerly bouncing in his car seat.

"I don't care." America said back in a nonchalant kind of way, "They better not have veggies."

"All you need is maple syrup..." The Canadian mumbled, because maple syrup was  
obviously the only thing needed to live properly. Oh, and pancakes of course.

"Dude, that's disgusting! Even more than eating veggies by themselves!" America  
declared.

"Nuhuh!" Canada yelled.

"Yeahhuh!" America yelled right back. At that very moment the two elder nations looked into the rear view mirror, and both of the males smiled at the two siblings fighting in the back row.

"You know, Miss Hungary is known for making lots of salads, I hear. Isn't that right, dearest?" England said as he turned his head towards France. Canada stopped talking, as did Alfred, as they stared slack jawed at the parents as Papa replied.

"Oui amor. She is also known for not liking maple syrup either. Or anything sweet for that matter." Little known to the kids, the parents were exchanging knowing looks.

"That's right! How could I have forgotten?! And it really is a surprise since she's so  
sweet. Oh dear I am such a loon. I really hope the children aren't listening." England soon said with a sigh, "I was looking forward to indulging myself with German beer and the bottle of wine we brought."  
Mortified gasps escaped the two brothers, and the colony's eyes grew big. Canada's eyes seemed to be the widest.

"How could... Anyone hate maple syrup?" Canada declared, almost as if he were ready to cry. Tears brimmed his eyes at the very thought of anyone hating the sweet molasses.

"Forget the maple syrup! How could she serve...? Salad?!" America asked. Canada  
looked to see his brother equipped with a horrified expression, with his hands on his head entangled in his hair.

Papa laughed, as England chuckled and simply inquired, "Are you two saying that we never told you this before?"

"Must have slipped your mind, Daddie." France told his husband.

"It must have done the same to you too, papa."

"I don't care who forgot!" America growled, "I'm not eating veggies!"

Papa muttered something under his breath, too low for Canada to catch, which caused the two adults to erupt in a couple of chuckles. Daddie turned his attention back to the two of them, a serious tone taking over his smile.

"Whatever Miss Hungary has cooked for us, I want you both to be on your best behavior and eat it, understand? She isn't going to make anything that could hurt you, besides it is quite rude to refuse to eat a homemade meal" England told them in his 'I'm being a serious adult' tone.

"Y...Yes…" Canada replied softly, too caught up in his current daydream about pancakes. He silently wondered if Hungary would let him skip the salad dressing and then simply add maple syrup. Sometimes Daddie said it wasn't good for him, but if maple syrup wasn't healthy, then why did it taste so good?

"You're lying to me!" America brought Canada back from his daydreams with his indignant shout, "If she was thinking of me she wouldn't have made veggies!"

"Even potatoes?" France asked.

"Are those veggies?!" America shrieked, his eyes widened.

"No, they are starches." France said simply.

"What are starches?" Canada asked, his voice, however, was too quiet to be heard by anyone and he was left ignored.

"Ssh!" England began to hiss, "America yes, they are vegetables. And you love them!"

"Maybe if someone did not blanch them to death this would not have happened." France muttered, and Canada giggled as heard this. Sometimes Papa had funny things to say.

"What did you just say, Francis?"

"I think you and I both know you really should let me cook meals, but you are too stubborn to admit it," France smiled and stared at the road ahead, "Just like a certain brother of yours, with red hair."

"You leave him out of this!" England snapped.

"Are you saying that Scotland is our uncle, Papa?" Canada asked.

"N...No, he's definitely not your uncle." England said, seething in the driver's seat. Canada wondered why Daddie was so upset, it didn't make sense. Scotland would make a great uncle!

"Canada we have an awesome uncle! I want to be like him when I grow up!" America's eyes were aglow as he spoke. He then pulled an imaginary shotgun from his leg holster and preceded to 'shoot' the various seats and objects  
in the car.

"No you don't, America, you really don't." England said back.

"Oh, but I do Daddie, I really do! He can shoot with guns and be a hero; an actual hero!" Alfie smiled gallantly, and seemed to be lost in his imagination again.

"Daddie, why are you so upset?" Canada asked innocently, his blue eyes carefully watching his Daddie. As carefully as a little kid could, anyway.

"Don't worry about that, Matthew, Papa's in trouble, that's all." The furious country growled and said nothing more until the family took an exit off the main highway, and onto a smaller and less busy road.

The curious colony shrugged and let the matter go, Daddie would tell him more later if it was important. Canada looked at his brother, who was smiling at him from across the way. America was playing with his bandages, especially the one on his arm. The car was running along the highway, France was driving and the swerving of the car between the line of traffic was completely normal for the brothers. It had been a while since America had gotten home from the hospital, almost a week now and Daddie and Papa had finally decided to let them out of the house.

"Are we there yet?" America asked impatiently from the back seat.

"No, America, not yet." England sighed and looked back at his son.

"How about now?" America asked again, Canada kept giving his brother a look that said to cut it out but he was promptly ignored.

"No, America. And if you ask again I promise you that I will have France turn this  
car around."

Canada looked out the window, uninterested in his brother's behavior and instead occupied himself with waving at the other cars as they passed them. The sun was getting lower in the sky, even though it was only about 6 in the afternoon, and the clouds were still pretty fluffy.

"Are you guys really gonna talk about boring stuff all night like last time?" America asked out of the blue.

"America, Papa says those things are important!" Canada said indignantly, "Daddie are we gonna get to play with Germany's dogs? I remember last time there was a puppy and he was super fun to play with."

"Dude, that was totally my idea." America stuck his tongue out at his brother who scowled a little from behind his glasses.

"Nuhuh! I thought of it and you stole my idea." Canada retorted, receiving the 'Daddie's being serious' look, again, from England.

"You two behave yourselves now. It was very kind for Germany to invite us over for dinner. I don't want any funny business, do you hear me?" He gave them more of a stern look, his green eyes lingering a little longer on America.

"Yes Daddie, we'll be good." The two brothers said in unison. Canada knew that he would try his best, but sometimes America had really cool ideas.

"Good, that's wh- France!" England shouted as France whipped a U-turn after a light, "You bloody fool what are you doing? Do you want to kill us all?"

"No, I missed the turn." France said calmly, waving a free hand at Daddie.

"You didn't have to go so fast!"

"Daddie, it's not fair! How come you can use bloody bad words and we can't?" America ventured, a sly smirk on his lips.

"Alfie, you can't say that! Daddie said that's a bad word!" Canada scolded his brother.

"Canada leave it alone, I will handle this. And America, don't use that sort of language around me, young man."

"But you said it!" America ventured, and Canada was shocked when he stuck his tongue out when Daddie was looking at the road real quick.

"Alfie…" Canada started, but then received a "be quiet" look from Daddie so he shut his mouth.

"I know America," England sighed, "but you're not allowed to say it. Understand?" America nodded at his father, and unknown to the elder nation, stuck his tongue out at his father. He quickly withdrew it, which left Canada torn between being a tattle tale or not. Luckily he was saved from this great, life changing decision, by the car being parked in a rather long driveway.

"Remember, best behavior." Daddie told them again, as they approached the very tall wooden door that belonged to Germany's house. Daddie rapped his hand on the door, and stepped back as they waited to be greeted.

"Hello, come in." Germany told them politely, stepping aside for the family of four to come in.

"Thank you, it was very nice of you to invite us over." Daddie responded, as they took off their coats and shoes and put them in their respective places.

"Dinner is almost ready, if you want to wait here while Hungary finishes up. I will be  
right back." Germany said politely, walking out of the foyer and disappearing  
in the oversized house.

"This is boring." America deadpanned, looking around with the embodiment of pure boredom.

"I really like this painting, it looks like pasta." Canada said, his voice ever quiet and no one seemed to really hear him. Indeed, the piece he was looking at was a hand holding a fork and diving into again bowl of pasta. Canada thought it was so impressive that his stomach gave a growl and he remembered how hungry he was.

"Alright," Germany came back then, with someone hiding behind him, "We should head into dinner. Before we do that, I would like you all to meet Italy. He is my charge, and I am his guardian."

Germany stepped aside, to show a cowering boy who was clutching his pant leg. Daddie and Papa greeted him with smiles, introducing themselves.

"H...Hi… I'm Canada." Canada greeted the other boy, who was as tall as America, leaving Canada the shortest for now, with auburn hair and his own curl sticking out the side of his head. He also appeared to have a bit of dried paint stuck to his cheek and a nervous smile playing on his lips.

The adults were talking to themselves, none of the colonies really cared what it was about, and the colonies were left to continue their introductions.

"Dude, Italy, I'm America and I am the hero and will save everyone. Because that's what heroes do!" America declared, with a  
rather cocky expression for a little kid, and in that silly super hero position. A hand in the air, the other on his hip.

"Hi! I'm Italy, and I love Pasta~ and also hugs." Italy smiled, doing a little twirl with his hand in the air when he mentioned the carbohydrate filled meal, all the while a goofy smile replacing the nervous air.

"The food is ready!" Came Hungary's voice from somewhere else in the house, and everyone looked up eagerly.

"Right, this way then." Germany told everyone in the super serious manor, the one all adults used when something 'important' or 'serious' was happening. They all followed through a couple of hallways, leading into a dining room with windows lining the back wall and a huge table in the middle. There were so many chairs for the table, Canada had trouble counting them.

"Alright! Bring out the Hero food!" America cheered happily.

"Do you two want a beer?" Germany asked France and England, as they sat down  
at the unnecessarily long table.

"I'd like some beer!" Alfred said, he giggled soon after he finished his  
sentence.

"Alfred F. Jones!" England said with a stern tone, "You keep your mouth shut  
right now."

"Or what?" America said as he taunted his father, "What will you do about  
it?"

"You know very well what I would, and will, do. But, this is not the proper time to  
discuss this, we are guests you know." The blonde sighed before focusing  
his attention back to Germany. "Yes, I'd like to have a beer."

"Make that two." France said with a coy smile.

Germany nodded and disappeared for a moment, before returning with three large mugs of beer, perfectly foamed on the top.

"Wow, those are quite sizable." England was too stunned to really say anything  
else. Canada, who was sitting on France's other side, looked up at his Papa  
with his big blue eyes. It was one of those few moments that he let his  
curiosity get the better of his manners.

"Papa? Can I have a taste, please?"

France glanced towards England, and once he confirmed that Arthur was engaged in a conversation and whispered into the boy's ear.

"Oui, just one sip, but I do not think you like it." He used his hands to keep  
the giant mug steady, Matthew took a sip and scrunched his nose. Papa was  
right, it was super gross. He let out a soft cough and wondered how Prussia was  
drinking the nasty stuff. It was bitter and smelled like bread, Canada would  
take some apple juice over that any day.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, frog?" Demanded an upset Daddie as  
Matthew wiped his mouth.

Canada blushed and looked at Daddie with wide eyes, while Papa just seemed to smirk. The young colony got the feeling that there was some adult knowledge that he couldn't quite grasp at. He wondered if it had anything to do with Daddie's pirate days, of which he only knew about from the little snippets of story from Papa. Canada wished he could be a pirate too, just like Daddie, because it  
sounded like lots of fun and adventure. _Oh yeah, that's right, I need to ask Daddie about that. I bet he has some super cool stories!_

"Dad! Can I have a sip too since Maddie got one?" America pouted from England's other side as France opened his mouth to reply.

"Shush! Not another word you frog." England snapped before sighing, "Yes  
America, you may. Though I must warn you, you may not like this."

"Gack!"America said after he took the sip, "Yuck! How can you adults like that? That was so gross!"

While his brother stuck his tongue out at Daddie's drink, then proceeded to take a big gulp of juice (that had magically appeared in front of the trio of colonies),  
Canada giggled at his brother's reaction, and it seemed Germany was just as  
amused. He chuckled softly, as he stared at the family.

"Zhisis your first time tasting beer? You must have such an unawesome life."  
Came Prussia's voice as he and Italy walked in with the food. Hungary trailed  
behind, with a disgruntled Austria following on her heels. He looked rather  
annoyed to have to be at the dinner, and Canada wondered if he had done  
something. _How could I have, though? I haven't seen him all evening. Maybe America did something._

"Oh great, the Prussian has arrived. All hail the oncoming narcissism."  
England muttered to himself. America snickered as he heard his dad's comment.

The dining room seemed to have gotten louder as the adults greeted one another, at the same time until Prussia literally plopped into his seat. Hungary took hers, after setting a huge bowl of salad in the middle of the table, and of course America scrunched his nose at it. Canada looked a little leery of it too, but knew better than to say something. That was rude, Daddie had taught him so.

"G...Ger... Germany? I made this pasta specifically for you..." Italy said softly,  
sitting next to his dad. He looked up, no doubt looking for admiration or pride.

"It is the same food you make every time." Germany said in monotone as everyone got their portions. As the German ate the food in front of him he kept the same expression on his face. "It is good though."

"Psst, hey Canada! Want some syrup for your pasta?" Hungary, who was seated  
across from Canada asked, a small wink appearing on her face.

Canada's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously, blonde curl bouncing with the movements of his noggin, and his glasses slipping down his nose, "Yeah, ok, I'd love some, uh please!" Canada added the please at the end, due to a quick glance from Daddie. Hungary slid an unopened bottle of maple syrup over to the waiting colony.

"You have to have at least some salad, America. It's not going to kill you to eat it, in fact it's rather healthy for you." Daddie was scolding America again, and  
Canada giggled.

"Doesn't America like salad?" Italy asked, astonished.

"N...No...Not really, he usually just throws it on the floor. Daddie is always punishing him for not eating his healthy stuff." Canada explained to his new friend, who nodded and then his eyes widened.

"Does that mean he doesn't like pasta either? Or pizza?" Italy whispered, seeming to be horrified at the thought.

"I...I think he likes pizza….or at least he did last time we had it. He ate the whole  
cheese pizza and I had to share the pepperoni one with Daddie and Papa." Canada said, remembering that he had to eat the pizza with the strange topping, as opposed to the yummy plain cheese kind.

"America, don't you want to try the salad I made for you? I made it with special big boy ingredients. You want to be strong, don't you?" Hungary asked, giving America a smile.

"Yeah, I wanna be as strong as Superman, only better! With laser vision!" America said, laughing loudly as he imagined himself, no doubt, in his hero attire. Canada was too nice to tell him that Superman already had that power, and he guessed it wasn't too big of a deal.

"What this meal needs is some good vurst." Prussia stated, suddenly unveiling a  
plate that had been covered the whole time. A pile of steaming bratwursts was  
laid out for the guests to see.

They the meal rather quickly, going over boring adult things like the  
weather and America's injuries. It happened that only Germany and Prussia had  
the wursts. Being the generous host Germany was, he ensured that England's mug was filled at least three times.

"Wow Italy! That was delicious thank you." Canada smiled.

"It was no problem." Italy said with a smile, and as the dinner continued the  
adults drank more of the nasty beer stuff. The entire attitude for the  
party took a turn once England's drunk side came to play.

"Oh gee, dad drank too much again..." America sighed.

"I don't drink too much! I'm...perfectly fine! Right, America?" England  
retorted, swinging his head down at his son. He seemed to confuse the two, his  
green eyes focusing on Canada, then shook his head as he looked at America.

"Daddie, you're acting weird." America unhelpfully pointed out, looking slightly  
concerned at the older nation.

"Alright, we better get going, hm?" France coughed, his arms already around  
England's shoulders.

"No! You must stay! The awesome me will not allow guests to leave without a good post dinner relaxation in the living room."

They moved into a living room of sorts, and America immediately ran to a guitar propped against the wall, and began strumming clumsily. Prussia instantly started  
telling America to quit messing with his 'Epic Instrument of Awesome that  
belonged to the awesome me' guitar. England, France, Germany, and  
Austria began talking all adultish talk about Italy, who had ran off crying.

Honestly, Canada was unsure what to do with himself, so he stood there, by one of the plush couches, and stayed quiet as he observed the situation. It took sometime before someone seemed to notice his absence, during which Canada played with a couple of paintbrushes he'd found on the ground. He pretended that it was America and himself, where America had gotten kidnapped by the arm of the couch and it was up to the maple loved hero to save him. He was in the midst of a silent, smart battle between him and the couch when the adults suddenly went  
into a panic.

"Canada where are you?" France called out, looking around the room in a frenzy.

"Right here Papa…." Canada replied, though no one seemed to have heard him, and as Papa turned and looked in his direction, his gaze passed right over him.

"Matthew! "England called out, then to a bit quieter he said, "Where did he go, I could have sworn he was just here…."

Tears pricked Canada's eyes. He felt as though everyone had just forgotten about him, and it seemed like they couldn't see him either. He gulped, a fantasy of being forever alone racing through his young mind. Being alone had always been a great fear of his. Of course, being the kid he was, he started to cry. How  
could they just forget about him like that? Didn't they love him at all?

"I'm rrrright here Daddie…" Canada cried out, which seemed to do the trick. England looked towards him and, after taking a moment to look at the space around Canada, focused on him and a relieved look crossed his face.

"There you are, Matthew!" England told him relieved, running over to him and hugging him," Where did you go off to?"

"I...I didn't go anywhere at all Daddie." Canada said softly, the tears still flowing  
down his cheeks.

"Canada!" France said, seeming much more in control of the situation than the other  
mostly tipsy adult. He too went to hug the little colony.

"Y...You forgot about me!" Canada cried out, a new series of sobs coming from him.

"No, of course not Canada! We could never forget about you." England told the boy.

"Yes, we could never forget about our son, we love you, Canada. Don't worry."

Canada sniffled, and looked up at the adults with watery eyes. They said they loved him, maybe they were just playing a game with him just then? That had to be it, they hadn't really forgotten about him. A small smile appeared on his lips as he realized this. They were his family, and it had all been just a game.

"I love you too, Papa, Daddie. Can you promise you won't ever forget about me?"

"Of course we promise." France told him.

Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Austria strolled into the room, and Canada realized he hadn't seen them leave. Italy was wiping slightly puffy eyes, and smiled when  
he saw Canada. They gave each other a hug and immediately laughed at how silly they both looked. They started to chat about random things, mostly art and pasta. The adults sat down and had a couple more drinks, although Canada and Italy were too preoccupied with their chatter to really take note. It was at a  
slightly later time when a grand idea struck Canada. He watched his  
fathers stand from their seats at the couch, then turned to whispered it to  
Italy, asking him if he'd ask Germany about it. The Italian's eyes brightened  
at the request and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Hey, Germany?" Italy asked with his sing song voice.

"Ja?" The German asked, starting to stack the plates to clear the table.

"Can...Can my friends stay over for the night? We can make pasta, and play hide and seek, and paint, and it will be lots of fun. Please, Germany, can they?" Italy asked, his eyes going a little dazed with the daydreams of what they could accomplish together.

"I do not have a problem with that." Hungary said as she giggled at the thought,  
"It sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Along as I can still play my piano undisturbed zhen I do not have a  
problem." Austria said his opinion as well.

"Along as they do not butt into ze awesome me und my awesome time zhen I do not care." Prussia told them, now cradling his guitar which he'd managed to  
obtain from America.

"Ja." The German took the other countries opinions with the nod. "If it does not  
disturb their parents then it is fine by me."

"That sounds lovely." France nodded in approval, to which Canada gave a  
delighted squeal, and the trio gave each other excited looks.

"Where's the toilet? I ahtfta go..." England moaned, trying his best to walk  
straight without Papa's help.

France chuckled as he watched his husband stumble in the wrong direction. The sober country stood up and escorted his drunk towards the toilets, and locked the door soon after. Canada hoped that Daddie would be alright, and before he could go check on him, Hungary was ushering them out of the room. As they left,  
Canada could have sworn he heard weird noises coming from the hall with the  
bathroom, but he wrote it off. Besides, if he mentioned it out loud  
America would lead him on another super scary ghost chase.

"Um...Let us go outside and watch the sunset!" Hungary suggested as her only use of diversion to get everyone out of the house before the first moan was fired.

"Yeah, you can see my treehouse, I painted it myself ve~~"

The group headed to the back yard, where only the faint sound of the bathroom door slamming could be heard.

"Alfie...W...what was that?" Canada inquired about the sudden loud noise that was  
coming from inside the house

"Oh it was nothing. Who wants a cannoli?" Hungary quickly asked and cheerfully  
pulling out a plate.

Prussia, Canada noted, smirked a little in the direction of the house. He wondered if he could ask him later what was so funny about the mystery noises he'd heard. But he promptly forgot about that idea as Hungary presented them with the plate of little rolled pastries that Canada identified as cannolis. They each took one, and then the boys were allowed into the treehouse, which bad lots of artsy paintings along the wood. Most of the designs appeared to be pasta related, or about nature stuff. The treehouse was in a tree that was slightly crooked near  
the top, which made for the perfect resting spot for the little fort. There was  
a wooden ladder leading up to it and the boys approached it.

"Whoa this is so cool!" Canada declared.

"Eh, my forts are way more awesome." America said with a shrug on his shoulder.

"Alfie be nice!" Canada said to his brother, as they raced to be the first to  
climb to the top. The American didn't listen, and kept a fast pace climbing up.

"Hey Italy! We should totally pull a prank on someone! "America said rather  
loudly as they reached the top of the hut. The remaining adults were  
seated in a couple of lawn chairs and definitely out of earshot.

"No Alfie pulling pranks isn't nice!"

"A prank? Like what?" Italy asked.

"Nobody asked you, Mattie." America said dismissively.

"Even if someone did it's still wrong!" Canada proclaimed, he was so upset by it  
that his voice got really high.

"But you didn't hear my plan yet..." America whined with a pout on his face.

"Fine." Canada sighed in defeat, "What is your idea?"

"Well, how about we prank Prussia?"

"No! We can't do that, its mean. And Prussia's scary." Canada pointed out, a somewhat  
offended look on his face as he looked at his brother. By now, they'd seated  
themselves down in a circle on the wooden fort's floor. The fort was  
surprisingly void of any furniture, but that wouldn't stop a trio of  
imagination filled young boys.

"Yeah, why would we do that to Mr. Prussia?" Italy asked in his sing song voice looking at  
a rather round windows, there were two of them, that were roughly carved in the  
sides. From their seats on the floor, the boys could barely make out the chairs  
below as the adults sat, probably talking about the boring stuff again.

"Because he's too high strung and serious." America said with a confident grin, his blue  
eyes glinting with a contagious mischievousness, "It'll be fun and Prussia will  
have fun too! It's not like we're pranking Germany. Besides, I have a totally  
awesome hero plan to prank him!"

Without glancing at the others to see if they were on board, which after his short  
little speech about fun of course the boys were on board. Canada inwardly gave  
in, reasoning that pranking couldn't be that bad if everyone had fun in the  
end, right? Besides, Prussia was waaay less serious than scary Germany.  
Everything would be just fine, and they'd have a lot of fun and a cool story to  
tell in the end.

"So basically we go and get Gilbird and put him…." America ranted on with his plan, and the boys agreed it was practically foolproof!

The boys nodded in agreement, then went on to plan further. They'd wait for nighttime, and after Daddie and Papa went home. They'd do it while Prussia was  
sleeping, and Italy pointed out he knew where the whipped cream was. This  
obviously made the plan even more devious for their minds.

"Boys! Your parents are heading home, do you want to say goodbye?" Hungary asked, calling up to the boys.

"Yes, be right there!" America and Canada nodded together. The trio of boys fist  
bumped at their brilliant plan, then one by one made their way down the latter,  
giggling as they went. They ran to the door, which Prussia was now leaning  
against, and they filed in. As America passed him, he thought of  
something obviously very funny (at least to him) to say, "Prussia, I'm  
gonna be just like Scotland one day, and then I can be more awesome than you."

Prussia's eyebrows lifted from the bold words America said, "You  
can try, but no one ever get to be as awesome as I am." the albino said as  
he laughed at the colony's ambitions. England and France stood, with their  
coats on (Daddie's was somehow really crooked on him) and waiting for their  
goodbye hugs.

Canada ran into Papa's arms first, giving him a bear hug like he did every night.

"Make sure you two don't get into too much trouble, alright?" Papa asked him,  
reciprocating the hug to Canada.

"OK Papa! Then you have to promise and make sure Daddie feels better ok?" Canada  
asked with bright eyes. Papa chuckled.

"He's not sick, little Canada, he's just feeling...funny… after drinking that beer."

"EW," Canada crinkled his nose, "That's stuff is gross. Why did Daddie drink it?"

"It made him feel better." France gave him a peck on the cheek, then passed him off to Papa. Canada noticed he smelled like the beer, but that didn't matter  
because he gave his Daddie a hug anyway.

"I love you Daddie." Canada whispered.

"That's so nice, Matthew," Daddie started, seeming to have a little trouble getting his next sentence out, "I 'afta go home with France now. You be good, fer these  
people. See you tomorrow."

With that the parents left, with England giving them worried glances as they walked away. Papa reassured him, and kept telling him that they were safe at  
Germany's. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

**Ok, just a little more A/N... Sebaschan001 and I have a headcannon that Canada disappearing and being forgotten all the time is actually a superpower Canada has. Hence why he literally goes invisible in this chapter... Just thought I'd explain that because I can see how it could be confusing :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! So it may have been around 3 months since we've updated… yeah sorry. This story kind of got put on a back burner because I started college and also was working on this paper for my anthology class (it was about werewolves, which was pretty awesome!) Oh, also if Germany, Prussia, or Hungary sound odd it's because I sort of suck at writing the accent…. Yeah I tried! Anyway, don't forget to check out Sebas-chan001s story if you're curious. Also, minor swearing and, if you really look for it, slight Pru/Hun shipping. Hope you enjoy the chapter! **

"Okay everybody! What do we want to do first? Pasta?" Italy asked his new friends, as Germany, Hungary, and Prussia went back into the sitting room.

"I don't know…" Canada responded with a little shrug.

"Dudes! I know let's have a Flappy Bird competition!"

"What's Flappy Bird?" Canada and Italy asked in unison.

"I don't know" America shrugged, playing it cool, "Just this game people have been talking about. I mean, I've heard it's like… The best game on the planet…. But then again, I haven't played it so I wouldn't know."

"Oh, ok." Italy nodded, "That sounds fun!"

"Yeah, it does, eh?"

"That's what I said!" America beamed as he quickly retrieved his cell phone from his pocket, "So I totally downloaded the game as soon as I heard about it…. Which was… Like… A week ago, I think! I'm so pro at this already. You guys are going to suck so bad it's gonna be hysterical!"

"Um… America… Won't you tell us how this is played?" Canada asked, looking at the strange app for the first time with wonder.

"No way bro!" America said as he started to laugh, "If I can master it without help then so can you!"

"Don't you think that's a little unfair?" Canada asked again.

"Wow that looks cool! Ve~ Can I go first?" Italy asked with a happy smile.

"Sure dude!" America handed the phone to the Italian.

He tapped the play button on the screen and the little bird was then flapping on his own. The instructions on the screen told Italy to tap to fly, so he did. As the first green pipe came into view, he panicked and his bird dove to the ground. America let out a loud and boisterous laugh as the Italian cried out.

"Oh no! Let me try again, ok?" Italy asked, seeming to concentrate more this time.

The three of them leaned over the phone, America and Canada each on a side of the Italian peering over his shoulders. As the game started up again, Italy focused hard and suddenly seemed to gain some skill from the app god because he didn't fail again until he had hit 23.

"Wow! Good job!" Canada congratulated the proud Italian.

"Pfft. Good enough, my first try was better." America mumbled.

"Really? Cause it says here that Italy's score is the new high score!" Canada noted softly, looking at the statistics.

"Easy. Here my turn, I am totally gonna beat you guys!" America said proudly and avoiding Canada's question.

"But Alfie, it was my turn!" Canada whined.

"Pfft, says who?" America said as he grabbed the phone, and pressed the start button. The little bird started to flap, pipes were starting to appear. Alfred began to tap on the screen at an alarming rate, almost like a child gone ballistic. The tiny yellow bird soared to the top of the sky, which ended with the bird crashing against the first green pipe.

"Wow, you are not so good at this." Italy hummed in America's right ear.

"Shut up!" Alfred said with a snarl on his face.

"He's right though, Alfie... "Canada muttered in agreement, "You didn't do as well as you claim…"

"Oh yeah? Well that's cause you two were distracting me!" The young child shot his head up, looking around to see if there were any other witnesses that could back him up. Unfortunately, Germany, Austria, and Prussia had all left the room. This meant that Ms. Hungary was the only one left; she was sitting in the rocking chair that was on the other side of the room. America sighed, he noticed that she had her attention locked on her sewing. "Isn't that right, Ms. Hungary?" America asked anyway, already knowing the answer.

"I am sorry, but I could not see vhat vas going on." She said in a very soothing, yet apologetic tone. "I vas vorking on zese for Mr. Austria, zhey are going to make zhe cutest pair of socks one day!" America groaned and rolled his eyes.

"One more shot!" the boy declared.

"But what about my turn?" Canada said, his brother pressed the start button without saying another word. The bird appeared once again, bouncing along to Alfred's tapping. He made it past the first pipe, great! 'Only 23 more to go!' he hadn't noticed this, but America's tongue was starting to poke out of his lips. Past through the second and third pipe with ease, America scoffed, thinking how easy it was going to be to crush Italy. His confidence shot out in a way that shouldn't have happened in the first place. He got over confident, by the time he went through the seventh pipe he made the same mistake as he did his first try. He tapped the screen too many times, the bird crashed against the eight pipe, ending Alfred's turn with a low number. The screen displayed happily, telling him he'd got a score of 7 and tauntingly displayed Italy's previous score.

"Shoot!" America growled before throwing his phone down to the floor. "You take it Matthew! I'm sick of this stupid game!"

"Oh… Okay….." Canada replied timidly as he picked up the phone. Thankfully there wasn't any cracks on the screen, Daddie and Pappa would have had a fit for sure! "How… How do I play again?"

"It's easy!" Italy said when America groaned to his brother in frustration, "You tap on the screen and the little birdy moves. You want to go through the pipes, and each pipe is trickier than the first."

"Oh, I think I got it now… Thank you."

Canada started the game, easily dodging the first array of green pipes. The game didn't seem so scary now that he had watched the other two play it. He was zoned in despite America trying to get him to lose by yelling at him and Italy cheering him on. Suddenly he'd racked up near the 30s and America was starting to get more aggressive with his distractions.

"Hey Canada! I hear that hockey is going to go under next year." America said as he started poking his brother, "Hey! Why won't you listen to me?!"

Canada didn't respond as he was too preoccupied with the tiny bird. He was easily the most focused person in the room, and that was counting Miss Hungary (who was also quite focused and intent on her sewing). He was in the upper 60s when America panicked. His brother was too good at this, and he hadn't even played it before! This wasn't fair, and Alfred knew he had to think of a plan. If Canada made it to 100 then America would have to deal with more shame. Right, what could he do?

"America stop it! I'm winning!" Canada shot back, swatting away his brother's rapid arm movements and shoves.

"Hey Mattie, I think I can hear the maple man coming."

"What? Where? There's a maple man? Does he give free maple syrup?" Canada asked suddenly interested, where upon the little yellow bird nosedived into the ground between two pipes.

"Alfie! Why did you do that?!" Canada started to demand, his eyes filled with tears. The number 72 was flashing on to the screen, next to 'New best!'.

"I don't know." America replied with the casual shrug of his shoulders. "I guess I just felt like it."

"That's so mean! You…. You…. You hoser!" Alfred's sibling said as he stood up from his spot, scowling at his brother.

"Dude, what the heck is a hoser?!" America asked, he had a wide grin was on his face as he chuckled at his brother. "It sounds like something I put on a burger!"

"I don't know what it is." Canada replied, "But it's not good I can tell you that!"

"Guys! No need to fight!" Italy said as he tried to put the upset brothers at ease. "Like Grandpa Rome always said. 'Maka pasta notta war!'"

"Yeah dude, are you really going to get upset because you got a game over?" Alfred asked.

"You know what…." Matthew said, literally dropping the phone into his brother's hands. "If you want your phone so badly, take it. I don't want to play anymore."

"Mattie…." Alfred said, he could feel his heart pang with guilt.

"Come on, Mattie." Italy said, rising to his feet as well. "Let's go play in my room." Canada nodded as he followed the Italian, leaving America by himself in the living room.

"Well fine!" America said dramatically, "If you want to go then go! I don't need you guys anyway! I can have fun all on my own!" He stood up and looked at Hungary, she was still more focused on her work than she was on what the children were doing. 'Stupid Canada, it's not fair that he's better at Flappy Bird than me…' America placed his phone back into his pocket with a frustrated sigh. He decided that he should go exploring, yeah! That is what heroes do best after all.

Germany's home was a two story house, majority of the floors consisted of dark oak wood tiles, the stairs were patent with wooden tiles as well. The hallway on the second floor was also made from the wood tile. America's blue eyes scanned left and right, every room that he saw was closed, hidden away by a spotless white door. He came across a room that was not shut, naturally that would mean America had to snoop and see what was going on, DUH. He peaked his head from around the open door and was greeted with the sight of an immaculate bathroom. His jaw dropped in awe, every single element in that small room, which was mainly the color white, seemed to glisten. Resting by the corner of the tub sat a yellow rubber duck, America growled, storming towards the innocent bath accessory, he wasn't even paying attention that there was water in the tub.

'I'm so mad… I'm so mad that I'm gonna take it out on you! It's your fault anyway!' America thought to himself as he grabbed the random rubber duck, he didn't care who it belonged to. Just the fact that it was yellow and a bird ticked him off. The sound of footsteps began to echo from the bottom of the stairs. He quickly, and successfully, hid himself in the linen closet that was next to the bathroom.

"I am so glad zhat I awesomely remembered zhat I had zhese awesome und manly bath salts!" Prussia's voice rang into the cracks of the closet door. "Oh vell, I really should thank whoeva sent zhese to me. Nah, who am I kidding? I am ze awesome Prussia! I do not just go around und thank people all villynilly like an unawesome wussy panzy! I shower zhe public with mein awesomeness!" The bathroom door clicked shut and the scent of lavender began to fill the air. "Vhat, vait a minute! Vhere is my Gilbird?!" America had to cover his mouth so he could contain his snickering. The door swung open, he could hear the wood bump against the wall. "Zhis is un outrage! I must have mein Gilbird!" The sound of heavy footsteps faded away and America thought it would be a good idea to leave while the Prussian was away. America went back into the bathroom to put "Gilbird" back where it belonged. What kind of adult played with duckies anyway? America decided it was best not to ask. He noticed the pile of clothes that were folded neatly and sitting on the counter and the white towel that sat next to it.

"Wow….. He was so mad that he left his clothes behind?! What a doofus!" America placed the rubber duck down, but quickly snatched the towel and clothing into his arms and bolted out of the room. He was laughing as he was trying to find a better hiding spot, he could hear his brother giggling through one of the closed doors. He decided that should be the place where he would hide. Without knocking, America barged into the room, interrupting Canada and Italy from drawing various adorable looking animals.

"Um… Alfie…." Canada said, noticing the folded clothes in his arms. "What are those?"

"Just the sickest prank you've ever seen!" Alfred replied as he quickly darted under Italy's bed. "But I'm not here."

"Alfie… What did you do?" Canada asked, he was starting to get worried.

"You'll see!" America whispered back. The other two children sat there frozen, not moving a muscle until they found out exactly what America had done.

"VHAT ZE HELL IS ZHIS?!" Prussia cried out a few minutes later, his voice of anger and frustration echoed throughout the entire house. "VHERE DID MEIN CLOTHES GO?!" Canada and Italy both turned their heads and stared in horror at the Hell that America had created.

"Alfie….are those…. Mr. Prussia's clothes?" Canada asked.

"Uh yeah dude, aren't I brilliant?" America responded, climbing out from under the bed again, after deciding that his bed wasn't the best place to hide anyway.

"Um, America you should return those before Mr. Germany gets really mad and scary!" Italy's voice shook a little at the thought of an upset Germany, one that his imagination did not have to make up.

"No guys, don't be lame! This is the best. What should we do with these clothes? I was thinking…."

"America you need to bring those clothes back! It's the best thing to do, eh?" Canada surprisingly interrupted his brother mid-sentence.

"Vhat is going on in here?" Came a stern voice from the doorway. All three children froze and slowly turned to see Germany there with his arms folded and a cross look coming from his face, "whose clothes are those?"

"They're….. They're Prussia's…." Italy admitted softly, he looked like he wanted to hide behind Canada and America, but they were just as frightened as him so what good would that have done?

"Und vhy do you have Prussia's clothes?" Germany asked, placing a gloved palm over his eyes and sighed exasperatedly.

"We….," America saw Canada give him a shake of his head, "Um, I...wanted to play a prank?" America was really quiet for once and shook a little with fear.

"No matter if you vanted to, it does not make it right. Return the clothes immediately" Germany didn't quite yell, but the order was obvious.

"Yes sir." America said without a sense of sarcasm at all, it appeared his rebellious streak is easily quelled by an upset Germany.

America picked up the pile of clothes, no longer in their tight and neat folding as they had been before, and started his walk of shame down the halls. He passed Miss Hungary who gave him a reassuring look as he continued walking. When America made it to the bathroom, he set the clothes down and started to plot the best way to get away from the door before Prussia came out.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't America's night. The door to the bathroom cracked open a little and a bubble-haired Prussian peaked out. America froze in his tracks, just a few steps away from the door, and tried to tell himself that Prussia couldn't see him. Of course this was a ridiculous notion, he didn't have the power of invisibility, just the power of a heroic prankster!

"Aha!" Prussia said with an almighty roar, "Mein awesome mind just knew zhat zhe dunkoff vould reveal himself if I gave him some time."

"What? You totally couldn't have known it was me! You're a liar!" America huffed, his rebellious pride returning for the time being.

"I am awesome!" Prussia declared, "After all, every awesome vord that comes out of mein awesome mouth is too awesome for it to not be zhe truth." He gave the boy a triumphant look as his red eyes stared at the culprit.

"You have no proof! I could totally be here at the wrong time and place, what would you, 'ze almighty awesome you' say to that?" America said, imitating Prussia's accent when he mentioned 'almighty' and to be honest it was a horrible imitation.

"Oh, vhat is zhis? Zhe little unawesome chibi boy is trying to intimidate me. Oh no…. I am so scared… I am practically shaking in my awesome lederhosen if I vere vearing them! But sadly, I am not, and I am still more awesome zhan you, little chibi boy." Prussia continued to smirk as he snatched the clothing out of America's hands, "Vhat unawesome zhing do you have to say to zhat now, little boy?"

"Only that old people like you can't be awesome!" America retorted smartly, "And also I don't have to be awesome, I'm an epic hero!"

"I am zhe most awesome dude zhat I know! I am ze embodiment of awesomeness, a level of awesome zhat you cannot hope to achieve in your puny little lifetime! Just look at mein dictionary of awesomeness!" America's eyes slowly started to shift downwards, "Not ZHAT dictionary of awesomeness. Zhat is for Ms. Hungary for later…" The albino muttered that last phrase to himself, slowly shifting his head towards the side. "Anyvay I am zhe dictionary definition of awesome! Vhat do you have? A silly string und a yoyo? So suck on zhat…. Loser!" The man said with a chuckle and closed that bathroom door once again, feeling like he owned the conversation.

"Fine! If you please stop bragging about your unreal awesomeness I'll admit I pranked you! Geeze!" America retorted, yelling through the door. Soon after the bathroom door opened again and Prussia gave America another all-knowing smirk.

"Finally, I vas getting tired of having to goad you. I vas also expecting you to return it the whole time, and as awesome as I am means zat I cannot get embarrassed so easily! Jokes on you!"

"Whatever, I'm done playing your stupid game anyway. Come find me when you're not an asshole douche face!" The young colony huffed and stormed back to Italy's room.

"How did it go Alfie?" Canada asked, he was curled up next to Italy's bed, the two boys decided to watch "Tangled" while the entire Prussia and America ordeal was going out.

"Just shut up." Alfred growled and plopped to the floor, glaring at the movie that was playing. _'When will my life begin?~~~'_ The movie was singing. America continued to glare at the happy looking girl who had too long of hair.

"Cheer up, America! You did the right thing, doesn't that make you feel better?" Italy asked with a smile, handing America some popcorn from the bowl Canada and himself were sharing.

"Yeah, whatever." America huffed, accepting the popcorn anyway.

Time passed quickly, and suddenly the movie was over, Flynn Rider saved Rapunzel (and she saved him too) and they got engaged. Italy was snuggling the popcorn bowl and smiling in his sleep, while being curled up like an auburn kitten.

"Dude, I just got the best idea like ever!" America said to his brother.

"What is it, America?" Canada asked with a yawn.

"Let's prank Italy!" The excited boy said with a large grin on his face, "Let's take his pasta and replace it with something else… Like a potato!" He was whispering at this point so he wouldn't wake the auburn child from his slumber. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"America, I don't think you should prank anyone anymore. Besides, that would be really mean!" Canada objected, in a hushed tone so he also wouldn't wake the Italian.

"But dude it'll be so funny!" Alfred whispered, "Come on! Help me out just this once! It'll be hysterical!"

"No America! I am sick of your pranks, I don't want to get in anymore trouble!" Canada scowled at his brother.

"Well then fine then, you big cry baby." America said as he stood up, "But whenever you're done living your life like a wuss… You'll know where to find me." And with that being said America left the room, and started to head towards the kitchen. In the distance, down the hallway, he could hear Ms. Hungary suddenly screech, "Prussia what are you doing in my room?!"

"Hungary, zat silly prank from earlier gave me an idea. Behold mein awesome body- in ze nude. Come on, don't be ashamed. You can look all you vant!"

"Wow…. Prussia is so weird… I hope he has his cootie shot..." America muttered as the sound of a frying pan rang through the halls then all was quiet.

It was sometime later, a couple hours to be precise, in which Italy stirred from his sleep by his grumbling stomach. He looked around the dark room and saw that Canada and America were fast asleep on the floor, curled up into their blankets. Italy got out of his bed and quietly crept out of his room. Thankfully his eyes had adjusted enough so he could see the hallway in total darkness. The small nation made it down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

"Alright! Let's make some pasta~!" Italy announced like he was the host of a new cooking show. "Now, the first thing that you want to do is wash your hands! You don't want to have dirty pasta, that's the worst kind!" After drying his hands with a towel Italy walked over to where his beloved pasta maker was kept. "Now, if you want the easy way to make the perfect noodles, you would need a pasta maker like so!" The child opened the cabinet door and instead of finding his beautiful pasta maker, which was given to him by his grandfather, there was a potato sitting in its place. "Oh… It's a potato…" Italy said as he picked up the root. "I guess we don't need the pasta maker… We can just use a wooden rolling pin. But the one thing that you do need is your flour! Can't make pasta if you don't have flour!" Italy skipped to the other end of the kitchen where the flour and sugar was kept. He opened that door, and saw another potato instead of his beautiful white flour.

"What… I wonder why someone left so many potatoes lying around?" Italy mused to himself, shrugging it off to the Germans, who really loved their potatoes, and had probably left them lying around. He'd find a way to make his pasta, somehow.

He walked around to another cupboard, where he expected to find his sauce, but instead he found (you guessed it) a mountain of potatoes that fell out of the cupboard and awkward potato-rolled all over the floor. Italy couldn't take it, and panic began to sit in. How was he supposed to make pasta when the ingredients for pasta were potatoes?

He began to cry loudly, holding the first two potatoes in his hands. There was shuffling down the hall, and suddenly the lights turned on and in came Hungary.

"Italy, vat is wrong?" Hungary asked, bringing the child into a hug instinctively.

"My pasta…." Was the first thing that Italy could get out of his throat, "My pasta…. They have all turned into potatoes! Ms. Hungary, what should I do? I am so hungry…. I do not think I can take it!" Almost on command, his stomach began to rumble, the child held his hand onto his stomach and began to cry out in fear.

"Zere, zere, Italy. It vill be ok! I vill make you something, how does zat sound? A type of pasta zat uses potatoes!" Hungary gave him another warm hug and motioned for him to sit in a chair at the table in the kitchen while she gathered a few of the potatoes that had scattered across the floor.

Hungary placed a plate of spaetzle in front of the very hungry Italy in no time. Italy smelled the food and gave her a smile. While this wasn't as good as his pasta, it would do for now! And he quickly inhaled the plate, patting his tummy afterwards in satisfaction.

"You liked it, Italy?" Hungary asked with an amused smile.

"I loved it, Miss Hungary thank you so much! It was almost as good as my normal pasta!~" Italy told her with a smile and then proceeded to give her a hug.

"I'm so glad to hear it, now Italy you need to go back to bed, it is so late!" Hungary chided, guiding the small child upstairs and tucking him in next to his friends.

"Goodnight Italy," Hungary said smiling.

"Buona notte, Hungary!" Italy said in a sleepy, content voice. A few seconds later he had fallen asleep with the rest of his friends.

Canada rolled over on the blankets in the morning, yawning as he did so. He opened his eyes to find both his brother and Italy absent. Canada assumed they were off eating breakfast without him, so he made his way down the stairs to find a mess.

Italy was frantically searching the cupboards, muttering something about pasta thieves and how 'it wasn't a dream'.

"Is everything alright, Italy?" Canada asked, catching the Italian between cupboards.

"No! My pasta, it all turned to potatoes!" Italy told him, tears in his eyes, "Who would do such a thing to such a magical food?"

Canada's eyes widened as a train of thought, he would rather avoid, came steaming through his mind. He remembered America talking about pranking last night, had he actually gone through with it? No, he couldn't just go around blaming his brother, he would have to find out for sure.

Italy was crying now, tears down his face. It came to the point where Germany ran in from outside, no doubt doing some sort of early morning training, and looked frantically around.

"Vhat ze hell is going on here!?" Germany demanded of the Italian.

"My pasta…" Italy said, "It is all gone. Someone took it while I was sleeping…. I thought it was just a bad dream… But Germany… It actually happened! I want my pasta back Germany, please help me find my pasta!" Italy said, his tears were rolling down his face like a flowing river.

"Italy, calm down. You probably put it somevhere different last time you vere making pasta." Germany said in a rational tone. He too began wandering the kitchen, searching for the missing carbohydrates.

Austria came in and ignored the search, somehow acquiring a steaming mug of coffee, to which after he sat down and unfolded a newspaper. He seemed quite content with ignoring the chaos around him. Prussia and Hungary wandered in, Hungary looking a little frazzled with her hair sticking up in odd ways, and Prussia's hand around her shoulders.

"Told you kid, Dictionary." Prussia muttered to himself, no one heard him though, which was probably for the best.

"Good morning, Italy and Canada! Vhat's wrong little one?" Hungary started off cheerful but changed tone once she saw the tears on Italy's round, pink cheeks.

"Pasta…." was all Italy muttered before he began to cry again and could no longer be understood.

"Italy, your pasta is obviously not here. I think perhaps you took it avay in your sleep."

"My sleep? Why would I do that?" Italy asked, eyes widening.

"How vould I know? You were probably sleep eating again. And ze pasta is most likely in your room right now." Germany looked a little annoyed that he had wasted his time looking for the missing pasta.

"I didn't do it! I swear!" Italy cried out.

"I….I think Italy's telling the truth." Canada murmured, almost too quiet for anyone to hear, Hungary however did hear him.

"Vhat vas it you said, Canada?" She asked, loudly so that Canada could be heard.

"I...I said that it's not Italy's fault the pasta is missing….. I think that America took it…."

Perfectly timed, America strolled in, after using the restroom then spending time to make faces at his reflection in the pristine mirror. He looked at the chaos and the potatoes and burst out laughing.

"America…" Hungary said, her tone was still pleasant, but stern at the same time.

"What… No!" America said, "Why would I take it?"

"Because your brother said you did." Hungary said as a response.

"Mattie, I trusted you not to be a rat!" America accused his younger brother and before Canada could argue back, Germany rejoined the conversation.

"America, is vhat Canada said true? Did you hide Italy's pasta?" Germany asked, staring at the young colony.

"Um…. Yes…" America said, looking down at the floor. "But all I wanted to do was give him a little prank…. I thought Italy would think it was funny." Germany really wanted to scold the child for the horrible decisions he had made.

"Vhere is ze pasta, America?" Germany asked instead, in an oddly calm voice.

"Under Italy's bed…" America admitted after gulping and looking quite guilty.

"Danke, but I zink it vould be a good idea if you two vent home, ja?" the German said. "Vat are your parents' numbers?" Canada was the one who replied. He recited the numbers that he should know by heart.

Germany grabbed his phone and dialed the number, heading up to Italy's room as he talked. Hungary made the boys a bowl of cereal for breakfast. The two brothers ate their food in silence. A few minutes later Germany returned downstairs with all of Italy's pasta things underneath his muscular arms. Italy was jumping with joy once he saw that his stuff was safe.

"Italy… I'm so sorry." America said, "I was just trying to have some fun with you, I really didn't want to make you cry…"

"Its okay, America, I forgive you…." Italy hiccupped, hugging the pasta maker.

"America, Canada, I zink it vould be best if you vaited on ze porch. Your parents are coming to get you." Germany told the colonies who finished their cereal and listened.

Once they were alone on the porch, Canada gave America a glare and folded his arms, refusing to look at him further he turned in the opposite direction. He told himself he was not going to let America get away so easy. America stayed quite as well for a little while before he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Canada! Calm down bro, it was just a joke!" America said with his usual smile.

"If it was just a joke, we wouldn't be out here waiting for Pappa and Daddie." Canada said without turning around, "You need to learn when enough's enough. You hurt Italy's feelings."

Before America could argue back, the familiar car pulled into the driveway. As soon as it stopped, England was out and stomping towards them, with France right behind him.

"We're going to have a talk later." England told the two colonies, "Go ahead and get in the car, I'm going to apologize to Germany."

Once they were in the car, and England had talked to Germany for a while, the family of four drove home in complete silence. That is until England, about halfway home, turned to America and informed him that he would be grounded for his actions. Of course America found this a bit unfair, and tried to argue. England then informed America that he was not allowed to go trick-or-treating on Halloween and warned America that if he continued to argue, the sentence would increase. As the car pulled to a stop in their driveway, the family exited their car and made their way into their home. There was lots of planning to do for the upcoming holiday, as well as some chores to be doled out to the naughty children, aka Alfred F. Jones.


	8. Chapter 8

The day was starting to form into dusk, the sound of children's laughter howled into the evening's air. Various decorations hung around the houses in the suburbs, each home ranging from child friendly to the purest house of horror. Canada couldn't wait another moment longer, he ran around his room, gathering everything he needed for his Halloween costume.

"Daddie?! How long until I can go trick or treating?!"

"Just a few moments, love~." England said from his bedroom. He had just sprayed his hair with an entire can of temporary bubble gum pink hair spray. He decided it would be best to wait a few moments for the color to set in. During this time he went into his closet and pulled out a pair of khaki pants, a long sleeved shirt, which was pink, a maroon colored vest, brown shoes, and a sky blue bowtie that hasn't been fastened yet.

"Ok Mattie, remember the plan? I'll distract Daddie and then make a run for it. We'll be trick or treating in no time!" America told his brother, hoping he was out of earshot of the parents.

"But Daddie said you weren't allowed…." America placed his hand over his brother's mouth.

"Shh…. I know. That's the point! You'll bring home our combined candy as if it's yours and Daddie won't ever know the difference!"

"Oh Daddie won't know the difference, will he?" England was leaning against his children's bedroom door. His hair was dried, costume on, and red dots were splattered across his lips like drops of blood. His arms were folded, staring at his misfit of a colony with annoyance set in his eyes. "Is there anything you're not telling me, poppet~?"

"No. What lame costume is that Dad? How is pink scary for halloween?" America scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"It's not, and that was my main objective." England said, "Appear to be innocent and safe... It's just an illusion my boys. But my true horror comes in…. A more…. Creative way. Let's just say there are fewer people walking around because of it."

"So, you're like a killer from one of those crime shows you watch all the time?" Canada asked, adjusting his white mask on his face and brandishing his hockey stick.

"Duh, Canada, he obviously is a killer, but you'd have to convince me. How do you hide the bodies then?" America, who was feeling quite spiteful this evening, questioned his elder with a childish smirk, thinking he had him in a corner.

"Have you tried the cupcakes, poppet?" England grinned back at his child, a look of horror and understanding crossing the young colony's face.

"You can't do that, it's like eating people or something!" America tried to retort, but he was obviously scared of the prospect.

"Daddie… Did…. Did you really bake someone?" Canada asked, his voice quivering, eyes wide behind his mask.

"Canada I…." England began to explain before he was interrupted.

"Mon amour, are you scaring zhe children again? Tsk, what have I told you about doing zhat?" France popped his head in, just in time it would seem, and waltzed in with a blue, white, and red pirate's uniform; complete with hook and sword. There was also a red hat in his hand.

"OI! That's my hat! Get your bloody mitts off of it you creep!" England noticed the familiar red hat that was in his husband's hand.

"But my dear Angleterre, it has not been used in so many years… I zhink it was a great idea to put it on display! Besides, I make ze perfect model for it, non?" He spun around the room, the uniform extended and flapped as he continued to show off.

"You are disgracing centuries worth of history!" England yelled, momentarily snapping out of character. "Um… I mean…. It is a lovely uniform. You know how much I love the colour red…. But, you know what? I think it would look much better if-"

"Arthur! The children!"

"Who's Arthur?" England said as he brought his finger towards his lower lip, "I'm not Arthur…. I don't know where he could be… But my name is Oliver, and I'll be running this household for the time being."

"Pappa! Daddie said he baked someone!" Canada cut in, giving England a wide berth.

"Hush hush now poppet~," England hummed while smirking at the child, "We don't want to reveal the "special ingredient" now do we?"

At this point Canada looked close to tears, looking to Pappa France for reassurance. America, though, seemed more intrigued by this mysterious cupcake man than scared.

"That's so lame, why would you bake someone though? Why not just…. Like, I dunno, not bake! That's for girls!" America cut in.

"Oh I can assure you my dear child that baking is not just for women alone. It can be very therapeutic for men as well! Oh you must join me at the baking party tonight~! I can show you how-"

"Aren't those your scones burning in the oven, mon amour?" France cut in, trying to save at least one of his children from the horrors England was portraying. Sometimes he got far too into his characters.

"Oh Mother Mary on Christmas day, I must save my scones!" Arthur, who was still in character, bolted from the room and raced towards the kitchen. The smell, and sight of smoke engulfed him.

"Pappa… Did Daddie really kill people?" Canada asked again now that England was temporarily out of the room. He had removed his mask and look very concerned toward his parental figure.

"Non Mattie, non. You know that Daddie would never do such a thing!" Francis said as he tried to soothe his panicked son.

"Promise?" Canada asked.

"Oh my! What a lovely shade of red~!" Arthur cheered, "They are all so beautiful. What a pretty shade of red indeed."

"Um…." France said, "On second thought…. He might have…"

"Careful Mattie, you're next." America smirked as he strode past them, cape flapping behind him.

"Now! Next go the nauuuuuuughtttttyyyyyyy children!" Arthur said with a rather loud cackle, "Where is this child named "Alfred"?"

America quickly paled and ran back into the room, hiding behind Canada. The two children were now both sufficiently frightened and were giving France horrified looks.

"You know, I think this could be a great night." France hummed to himself, mentally rewarding his husband for his extraordinary performance in scarring America.

"C… Ca.. Can we go… Trick or treating… Now?" Canada asked in a shaky voice.

"Not before a glass of hot apple cider!~" England called, bringing in two mugs with random superheroes emblazoned on the side. He handed a cup to each child, then pulled out a third and handed it to France, winking. France pulled the cup closer and smelled the hard cider with a smile.

"Once you are done, Matthew, we can go." France promised with an encouraging smile. The canadian began to avidly drink the warm, delicious drink, "Careful so zat you do not choke, Matthew."

"Yes, Pappa." Matthew said between gulps.

"Right, Come along Alfred!~ It's time to set up for the goodie little children!" England sang cheerfully, grabbing America's wrist and pulling him down the stairs. France and Canada followed closely behind, after Canada had grabbed his bear shaped candy collecting bag.

"But wait, this isn't fair!" Alfred began to protest, "I wanna go trick or treating with Mattie and Pappa!"

"Yes, but at the same time you upset that poor Italian boy's feelings.A naughtychild must be punished for his behaviours and not rewarded! That is how you make perfect gentlemen." England hummed a delightful little tune as he finished getting ready to go outside.

"What do you think you're doing?!" America yelped as he saw England carrying the trays of red cupcakes.

"You are going to hand these out tonight, my dear." England said with a cheerful smile.

"Not me!" America protested, "I'm not going to hand those out! I hate your baking!"

"What….? You're saying that you don't like my cupcakes?" Arthur froze for a moment, staring at the colony in disbelief. "Well, that's absurd! Everyone loves my cupcakes…. Everyone!"

"I don't! You probably….. Burned them or something!" America protested, and England couldn't help but chuckle at the "Or something".

"Well, I suppose since you don't like the cupcakes you could just sit around and help me clean. Would you like that, Poppet?"

"That's even more boring! Ugh, this isn't fair!" America pouted at his elder.

"Tut, tut. There shall be no pouting today!" England continued, oblivious to France and Canada having left, "After all, we're going to have so much fun tonight~!"

"What's the point of having fun if I can't go out and get free candy?" America started to pout, ignoring England as he continued to clean up his mess.

"Halloween isn't just about getting candy you know."

"It is for me…." America whined.

"Come now poppet, why don't you help me clean and then we can go outside~!"

"You really mean it!" America started to jump with excitement, thinking that he was forgiven and could go trick or treating.

"Why of course I'm serious!" Arthur said with a smile, "Someone has to hand out these delicious cupcakes afterall~!"

France and Canada were beginning their trek through the streets of bustling monsters and princesses.

"Where do you want to start, then?" France asked.

"This one!" Canada squealed excitedly, pointing to a house with a homemade graveyard and about 12 jack-o-lanterns. The little hockey player bounded up the driveway, and rang the doorbell, "Trick or Treat!" He said when the door swung open.

The stranger looked over his costume with a nod and dumped about half the bowl into the bag. Canada's eyes went wide and thanked the man as he walked away. The next house unfortunately only gave out some lint rollers and a trial size of floss, but the Canadian thanked them anyway. After about 6 houses of successful candy runs, the two were walking between neighborhoods on a path. Suddenly Prussia jumped out from nowhere.

"Ohohoh, my, my... If it is not Prussia! What are you doing here?"

"Silence you unawesome zhing!" Prussia, who decided to dress up as a knight, declared with a mighty roar."I am Sir Awesome the Greatness! Und all of your gold shall belong to me!"

"Well… I, monsieur, am Captain Francis III. And I am afraid zat if you truly want to posses all ze gold, zen we must battle for it."

"Pappa, no! That's dangerous!" Canada declared, pulling on France's red coat.

"Worry not mon petit garçon, I shall win zis fight victoriously! Afterall, it is a captain's job to defend ze things zey care about." 'Besides, what kind of moron would take zhis seriously anyway."  
"SIR AWESOME ZE KNIGHT SHOWS NO MERCY!"

"It is time I showed you why pirates are known as ze thieves of ze sea!" France unsheathed his sword, which was fake for everyone's protection. "Enguard, you low ranked scum."

"Heh… Useless und unawesome threats vill get you novhere!" Prussia added, drawing his fake sword as well. The battle had now commenced. Prussia made the first move, swinging his sword in a low cut, aiming at France's legs. France blocked it with ease, using that momentum to hit Prussia in the shoulder. The Prussian let out a squeal, "Ahhh!" as he pretended to struggle against the false wound. France began to smirk, his confidence was quickly starting to grow. Prussia's attacks began to move out of rhythm, aiming for different areas in unnatural times. France was able to dodge as much as he could, sweat was beginning to collect on his forehead.

"You go Pappa!" Canada began to cheer, even though no one heard him (aww). The Prussian displayed great determination in his eyes. He began to swing like a barbarian, forcing the pirate to back up until he could go no further. Once that occurred Prussia smirked, the "You're mine!" expression was written all over his face. He raised his fake sword and struck for the man. France was unable to fully dodge the silver haired knight's attack, he could feel the plastic tip brush against his shoulder. Like a true actor, France let out a harsh groan. He clutched his hand around his "wound" wincing at the thought of pain. The little colony gasped, fearing that his beloved Pappa would lose the kept his hopes up, he regretted the choice he made for what to be for Halloween. He should have been a pirate, like his Pappa! He would have a sword to fight with instead of a hockey stick, and as you know…. ya can't bring a hockey stick into a sword fight. Canada would have helped his Pappa win but no, fragile and without a sword, Mattie had to stand there and watch his father's opponent raise his sword for the final time. The fake weapon swiped across France's chest, signaling the short battle to end with a fatal cut.

"Oh no! Pappa!" Canada cried as France groaned and dropped to his knees, his head bowed in defeat.

"Ha! Suck it losers! Zhat is right, get down on your unawesome knees und bow before your superior of awesomeness! Und hand me your less awesome gold as vell."

"Oh…um... I'm sorry….." Canada said as Prussia marched towards him, his round eyes staring at the albino. "I don't have any gold…. But I have some maple syrup. You can have it if you want, I made it myself! I know that this might not look like gold, but trust me, it's the most precious treasure of them all! Here, take it!"

"Vhat? For me?" Prussia said as he stared at the little child. He accepted Canada's tiny bottle of maple syrup with open arms. "Vell, vell, I mean… Ahem! Thanks for ze gift. It may not be as awesome as I am, but I zink it will do for ze time being." He was trying to hide his embarrassment as he placed Canada's gift into his pocket. "You know kid, someday you could have ze potential to be awesome like me. I am still going to be ze most awesome of course, but you know vhat I mean. Alright, I have vasted my time talking to you vimpy losers, now avay! Ze great Prussia requires more candy!" Prussia said as he galloped away in the fashion of the knights in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Coconuts and all…

"Pappa, are you alright?" Canada began to ask France once the battle was over.

"Of course my boy." France said with a hearty smile, running his hands through Mattie's hair.

"You-you were really brave out there!" He said quietly, "I know that Daddie is going to be so proud of you when we get home."

"Oui" France said in agreement, "And speaking of which, I think it would best if we headed back now… we wouldn't want Daddie to worry."

"Alright…." Canada said, his eyes were beginning to tear, "Um… Pappa?"

"Hm?" France said, looking down at his son.

"Can we…. Um… Can we take the long route home?" the small child asked, "I want to trick or treat some more, so I can give some candy to America…."

"But of course we can do that!" France said, "You are such a good brother, Mattie. You are always thinking about Alfred. How sweet are you." And so the two had set out, looking for houses that still had their front lights lit. Canada and France had played a little game to see which one could find the next house first, Canada would always win. He ran for the houses with an extra spring in his step. His body was filled with joyful and innocent laughter. The thought of Alfred, and the candy they would share, ran through Canada's mind as he rang every single doorbell, greeting the various people with his oh so adorable "Trick or Treat!".

"Trick or treat!" The group of superheroes, monsters, and a princess cried and America huffed. He gestured to the bowl of candy and watched begrudgingly as the kids took a couple handfuls. He had his arms folded over the words "HERO!" that were etched on his chest, red cape tucked under himself, and a scowl on his face.

Of course none of this even phased England for a second. Daddie was humming happily from the doorway, handing assorted gift bags, which contained the cupcakes that he work so hard to prepare, to random children who bypassed the side of the porch America was on to go to the door. He ended each event with the same parting. "Happy Halloween my lovely poppets~! Your costumes look adorable as ever~!" with a wide grin on his face. He wouldn't admit to this outloud, but France had to supervise the entire ordeal so he wouldn't burn down the kitchen, or give any of the children food poisoning…

America looked at England, hoping to spot a moment where he could make his great escape. Thus far, his attempts had been moot. Daddie had even threatened to curse him if he tried to skirt around his job again. As if Daddie would actually curse him, as if he…. Actually baked people. America scrunched his face. He really really hoped Daddie got over baking naughty boys into cupcakes. Otherwise he would have to throw a bucket of water on him, because that's how you got rid of evil witches, right? Oh well, it is now….

"This is boring!" America cried in an exasperated tone, throwing his hands up and slumping down in his chair.

"We talked about this earlier poppet~, it is simply meant to be! Besides, _you've _got the fun job~! I could have made it so much worse for you, you know."

"Can't I please go trick or treating or something? Please? I'm going to _die_ of boredom otherwise!"

"Tut, tut love~! You haven't even learnt your lesson, such a naughty boy needs punishment you know! Naauuuggghty~!"

"Please Daddie? I can feel myself dying from lack of fun and good baking!"

"I'm afraid not, poppet~. You haven't learnt your lesson, as I've told you!"

"I have, I promise! Please!" America stood from his chair and pulled his hands together in a pleading fashion, "I'll even go to that one stupid house who always gives out toothpaste and floss!"

"Now what did we say about the word 'stupid', Alfred~?"

"It's not a bad word!"

"Potty-Mouth jar!" England sang, holding out a pink jar be-sparkled with a heart and the words "potty-mouth" in the middle of the red blob.

"No!" America frowned, refusing to feed the little sparkling jar any more of his candies he'd been taking from the kids who would give it to him. Already, because he said "stupid" and "poopy" he'd had to sacrifice a full sized Rollo and a Dairy Milk bar! How unfair...

"Oh Alfie! That's really such a shame…." England sighed, "Oh, look! We have some more visitors! Look sharp my boy, this one looks like a big one!" America sighed, sitting back down in his chair, his arms crossing over the "Hero" that he couldn't be. "Why hello hello my lovelies~!" England sang before the children, a ninja, a zombie, and a kitten, said "Trick or Treat!" America glared as he put the candy into the kid's bags.

"Happy Halloween…. Suckers…" America muttered, because if he couldn't have fun he would do his darndest to upset England. His now sole form of entertainment: setting his father's fuse off!

"Alfred, such a dirty mouth for such a _naughty_ boy…. Tell you what, poppet. You can get out of being cursed_ if _you put two pieces of candy into the potty mouth jar."

"No! All I have left is this little Nestle's Crunch and a bag of stupid Whoppers….!" Alfred glared at his parental unit.

"Alright then, just remember love you had a choice!" England tutted again as he reached into one of the pockets of his frilly pink apron and produced a pile of sparkling dust, "Such a shame that it came to this"

"You wouldn't…." Alfred's eyes were transfixed on the mysterious powder. Curses were all just pretend…. Weren't they? Alfred must have forgotten about the incident that happened to him when he touched England's spell book….

"Oh great spirits of the suns and stars." England started as he lifted his head. "Unleash your powers onto this child, show him the life that he has chosen to live! Oh, Doctor ten with hands at last, cure this child and his horrid past! Dumbledora the fedora!" The adult blew the dust in the child's direction, the air surrounding him was covered with pink glitter. America coughed, his heart rate was increasing.

"Woaaaahhh….." the random children said in unison, staring at England with wide eyes. "Best. Trick. Ever!"

"Oh, you really think so?" Arthur said as he started to get bashful. The children nodded with vigor. "Well, thank you all so very much! I also have some delicious cupcakes for you all. Come come now, don't be shy, I have plenty to go around~!" The children stepped forward to claim their treat. Alfred wanted to butt in and say that the cupcakes were made out of humans, but no matter how hard he tried the words would not come out of him. The small child was beginning to panic…

'Curses…. Are REAL?!'

"Happy Halloween my lovely poppets~!" England said, holding the last child's cupcake in his hand, "Your costumes look adorable as ever~... Butterscotch!" the adult yelped in pain, his index finger was cut and a small trace of blood was beginning to show. "Oh look, now I'm starting to have a potty mouth! Oh well, I think we still have some bandages in the bathroom. Be back soon, poppet~!" Those were the last words he said before he walked towards the sparkly jar, dropping a cupcake bag in the most flamboyant way possible, and quickly running into the house.

'Wait… He's gone?!' ran through America's mind, 'It's about time! If I run, I can still make it to all of the good houses before it's too late!' adrenaline filled the small hero's body, he went to retrieve his bag so he could make a quick escape.

"Alfie!" He could hear his brother's voice calling to him in the distance.

'They're back?!' America thought, turning to the direction of the sound, his heart dropped to his stomach.

"Bonjour my adorable little hero!" France called as the two males walked up the driveway.

"Hey…" Alfred sighed, his eyes staring at the ground.

"Alfie! I have so much candy, do you want to some of mine?" Canada asked as he raced to his brother. "I'll gladly share my candy with you!"

"No thanks… I don't want any." the other child said.

"What's wrong?" his brother asked.

"I wanted to go Trick or Treating…." Alfred's eyes were swelling with tears, they were almost to the point where they would overflow. "But Daddie made me sit here the _entire _time."

"Did you learn your lesson then?" France questioned, he was starting to feel guilt for his child.

"Yes…. I won't do it ever again, I promise!" America proclaimed.

"Well, I zhink he is telling zhe truth. Now why don't you go have some fun? I am sure zere are some people who still have candy."

"You mean it?! Thanks Pappa! I love you so much!" America hugged France like his life depended on it. But he didn't have a lot of time to lose, the child bolted down the driveway and didn't stop running until he came to his first house. Precious time was of the essence.

A/N~ from

Glitterdreamer95 &amp; Sebas-chan001

Glitter: Alrighty, that was fun! I hope you all enjoyed it. In case any of you were wondering: Yes, England was dressed as his 2p! self. If you don't know what a 2p is, google or pm me (Sebas-chan001 might not answer but I'll do my best!).Happy Halloween everyone!

Sebas-Chan: About the 2p England, you're really better off Googling it.

Glitter: Tut, Tut poppet! Why are you trying to scare everyone? (I would blame sebas-chan for the 2p obsession, they are a lot of fun to write though!)

Sebas-chan: You're fault though, dude, you're the one who got me into it!

Glitter: Shh...love, just let it happen!

Sebas-chan: Um... No way in hell! Get the f*** off me you people baker! MAY THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPEL YOU!

Glitter: Ever the dramatic personality…..

Sebas-chan: Say... I have a question... For the readers. Which version do you like best? Do you like it when the chapters here are similar or different? I personally like this style for us... It's easier, and I know that there are people who don't read both versions. Oh, and Happy Halloween. Here's your treat from us!

Glitter: Alrighty we got all that covered, until next time!~~~~~


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys Hope you enjoy this chapter! (By the way, this story is set in an AU where it is set in England, with an American school system. Because, frankly, we have no idea how british schooling works, ours is fun and….reasons….namely because Sebas-Chan has convinced me to be lazy on the research). Happy Almost-Thanksgiving!**

**I do not own anything from hetalia.**

"Pappa I hear the bus!" Canada said. The fathers handed the boys their backpacks and the two ran out of the house and boarded the ugly yellow school bus. The brothers took their usual seat in the back of the bus. Not that many kids liked that spot for some reason, which was weird, considering that the back of the bus was the best place to sit.

"Um… Alfie…. Would you mind terribly if you scooted over? My friend doesn't have a place to sit."

"Dude, for the last time, she's a pretend person!" America sighed in annoyance, he folded his arms across his chest.

"No she isn't! Daddie said that she's just as real as you and me." Canada said in annoyance, his little outburst caused all who was on the bus to turn and stare at the siblings. "Besides, she knows stuff!"

"_Dude_, imaginary friends don't know anything! They just can't!" America said a softer tone. The other kids on the bus went back to what they were doing, "Besides, there's more important stuff to do."

"Like what? Didn't we divide our Halloween candy already?"

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. We have to find out what the surprise gift Daddie and Pappa are hiding in the basement."

"No.." Canada replied softly, "It's probably hiding for a reason..."

"Come on dude, man up. We gotta find out what it is. And if you tell Daddie and Pappa then I'll tell them about your secret stash of candy."

The Canadian gasped out in shock, "You wouldn't!" He cried, literally.

"And the stash of fishing poles in the backyard. Daddie says fishing is too dangerous for you to do, but you do it anyway." The American said, a smile shadowing the little boys lips.

"I...I suppose...if all we're going to do is find out what it is..."

"I'm glad you see this my way." He said.

"On the other hand," Canada said, "I guess telling Daddie about that movie you watched would be nice too."

"Dude, you watched that with me."

"Only because you forced me!"

"You liked it and you know it!"

"No I didn't! It was scary..."

"Well I wasn't scared!"

"I don't think I could watch another movie like that ever again..."

"No it won't! We're going to get in more trouble!"

"Please? I'll let you have my pancakes at dinner!"

"Then Daddie and Pappa will think we're up to something!" By this time the bus had now stopped at there school and the kids were soon ready to leave the yellow vehicle.

"I'll sneak out and go fishing with you." The american said softly, knowing the canadian knew how much he disliked fishing.

"You'd really do that?" He asked as he held his backpack tighter.

"Yes." America said as they hopped off the bus and went inside.

"Can I think about it?" Canada asked once they got into their classroom. Sitting in the seat next to his brother the American responded with.

"You have until recess." With a nod Canada replied in silence.

"Class." Their teacher, Ms. Dancer said with a cheerful smile, "We have a new student in our class today. He's a little shy, so please be very nice to him and make him feel welcomed." The new student was hiding behind the teacher, their hands clutching on her long skirt. "Now now," she said soothingly, "there's no need to be shy here. Why don't you come out and tell us your name."

Auburn hair was the first noticeable thing as the student came out of hiding. The student was a boy, dressed in a red shirt, blue overalls, and red shoes to match the student made his way towards his classmates.

"Ciao." He said quietly, "It is nice to meet you all. My name is Feliciano, but you can call me Italy if you'd like."

"Well Feliciano it is nice to meet you!" Miss Dancer exclaimed, "Why don't you sit next to Matthew and Alfred?"

"Hey dude!" America beamed as he waved at the small country.

"Ah.." Italy sighed contently as he saw familiar faces and walked towards them.

"Dude I didn't know you were going to go here!" The american said excitedly

"Neither did I." Italy said with a smile, "Germany didn't want me to go to school, but Miss Hungary talked to him...and, here I am!"

"I'm glad you're here. Wait until we have snack time, miss Dancer always has juice for us!" Canada smiled.  
Miss Dancer stood in front of the class and cleared her throat.

"Ok, so today is a special day of class. Everyone welcome Miss Weber. She's a cake decorator and she's going to help us make some no bake cookies." The teacher said excitedly and clapped as a tall woman with curly brunette hair walked in.

"Good morning everyone!" She said with a bright smile, "How is everyone doing today?"

"Good Miss Weber" the class answered in unison.

"Well that's good. Who's ready to make some cookies? "

"We are!" The class said once again in unison. The instructor chuckled and continued to speak.

"Does anyone have an allergy to peanut butter?"

Two kids in the front slowly raised their hands.

"Oh that's alright." The curly haired woman said, her smile never fading, "I was expecting this, but it doesn't matter it'll still be delicious!" She was giggling as she gathered her beloved ingredients. "Now, let's begin!"

The lunch bells rang and the class reluctantly left their art lesson alone. Miss Dancer and Miss Weber promised to continue once they returned and wished that everyone would have a good lunch.

"I wonder what they're serving today." America pondered, the trio let their class down the hall and into the already long lunch line.

Italy voted to stay in line with them, clutching the paper lunch in his hand. He claimed the other kids were too scary to go find a table by himself. America and Canada nodded, reassuring Italy that their school wasn't too scary. Today's lunch menu consisted of hamburgers and Bosco sticks, along with mixed veggies, fruit, and milk. As the two children grabbed their trays, they started to look for an empty table. Of course, no table was really empty but they settled for the one table in the middle with only a couple other kids on it.

"This is the cool table now!" America said as he set his tray down, the other children that were seated were too preoccupied to listen. "Isn't it, Mattie?"

"Uh… Yeah… Sure…." Canada nodded, taking his seat next to his brother.

"Ve~~~ it is the cool table!" Italy said excitedly, producing a plain sandwich with a piece of cut wurst stuck between and some cheese. The cafeteria was buzzing with activity, every conversation that took place within the four walls seemed to come together, forming a roar of incoherent words. Just before things started to get too rowdy, one of the teachers walked over to the far side of the large room where the microphone and speakers sat.

"Attention everyone…." she said in a soothing voice. "Attention… boys and girls…? 1, 2, 3, eyes on me!" Only a few of the students repeated after the teacher, but a few moments of repeating herself, the children settled down. The atmosphere around everyone was silent, Italy began to feel anxious, his stomach tied into knots. "Thank you everyone. You may now eat your lunch."

"So… You have to wait until she tells you to eat?" Italy asked, clearly confused about the situation.

"Yeah…" Canada muttered, "Apparently it was the principal's idea."

"Well I still think it's stupid!" America declared as he stuffed his face with his hamburger. As the trio continued to eat their lunch they engaged in small talk until the same teacher came back to tell them it was time for recess.

The boys trotted off to the playground, having been shooed from the dining hall by the supervising adults. They ran outside, some of the kids were forgetting their coats behind, but being kids no one actually cared. The trio walked outside and looked for the spot that wasn't already swarming with their classmates. After all, the high seas was not a place where other children dwelt. It was a harsh, unforgiving landscape, and no mercy would be given to anyone who was a part of that world.

"What are we gonna do?" Italy asked as he gazed at the other children.

"Well, I don't know about you scallywags, but I plan to commandeer me a ship." America said, attempting a pirate-like accent but inevitably failing. That was ok, they were just kids after all, and to them it was perfect. America's gaze locked onto the tallest slide and gave a devilish grin to his comrades, "Aye, there be my ship. I must be off, before it leaves without me."

Alfred hobbled over to the slide, trying his best at a captain's walk. Canada and Italy were right behind his tail, not wanting to be left behind. By the time the trio arrived to the jungle gym all of their classmates had left, meaning that America was the captain of a very large ship. "Mr. Matthew, raise the sails!"

"Aye aye, capn'!" Canada saluted his brother and ran off in a random direction, he started to imitate the sound of waves crashing against a boat.

"What about me Captain Alfred?" Italy asked with widening eyes.

"Italy…"

"Yes sir!"

"You….. Go have some pasta…."

"It's just us box of tomatoes fairy… Everyone else said they were too busy…. hmph." The Italian sat eating his portion of invisible pasta (that would be silly if he had actual pasta we do have some standards in this fic….though you, dear reader, may not be aware of that…..).

"Careful with yer legs there, Buccaneer," America called to his cabin mate, seeing the swarm of other kids below the slide, "There be sharks down there in those waters. Tis a dangerous day to be sailing in the Saphfire Sea."

"Aye Cap'n! Should we shoot them down? We can have the cannons loaded in no time!"

America nodded, and called out to Italy, "Are ye prepared to face the terrors of The Saphfire sea, cabin boy? 'Tis a dreaded area known for the swarming of sharks and the occasional fire spew of lava erupting from the innocent waters. Not to mention the sharks, again."

"Sharks…." The Italian boy asked, "What do you mean by sharks?"

"Didn't you hear lad?" America questioned Italy, "Folks say these 'ere parts be infested with ferocious man eatin' sharks….. And I hear they love little Europeans."

"Oh no….." Italy looked towards the side, he began to see a fin circling above the water. "I guess… I guess it could be worse. It has to be better than an elephant graveyard, right?" Italy perked up a bit from his gloomy corner.

"Alfie… You never mentioned that there were sharks in the water!" Canada said, panic began to enter his body.

"It is the ocean, of course there will be sharks in the waters. And you address me as Cap'n!" America jumped into the air for dramatic effect, "Unless ye want to walk the plank!" The young colony pointed to the large slide on the other end of the park with a mischievous smirk on his face.

"No, I'd rather not…" Canada murmured.

"That's what I thought, now get yer self over to the cannon, we have a kraken to hunt."

"Maybe I'll just take your ship and make you walk the plank." Canada began, giving his brother a mirrored version of his own smirk.

"Careful, cabin boy," America started, hand hovering over his pretend sword, "Those be words of mutiny."

"Perhaps this ship is in need of a new captain, what say ye?!" Canada cried, giving Italy a wink, and unsheathing his own invisible sword, "I'll take ye down myself if the need be."

"I'd like to see you try, boy." America countered, drawing his sword. Italy looked slightly confused at the two, who weren't actually fighting, it was for effect. Of course, being Italy, the Italian didn't know that. So, naturally he did what came first to him. He ran away for his own protection.

"Down with the tyrant!" Canada cried, lunging his invisible sword forward to start the duel. With a mighty cry, Alfred too ran forward.

"Ha! I got your shoulder!" the Cap'n declared.

"No you didn't!" Matthew cried, "There's no way you could have hit me!"

Matthew cornered America towards the slide, poking him with his sword, until the unfortunate captain had not choice but to take the plunge down the plank. Upon falling into the sea, America jumped up and grabbed the nearest thing to him, which was a stick.

"Behold! I found Davie's sword, and I swear one day I shall reclaim such a mighty ship and take ye down, ye scoundrel!" America shouted in triumph, "And then all the booty'll be mine."

America looked around, stalking towards the ladder that lead back to the platform with Canada on it. He placed the stick in his mouth and climbed it, imagining his form to be the likeness of Will Turner from the pirate movie he'd watched. He popped back up and surprised Canada from the back, 'slicing' him with his sword (this was no more than a minor poke in the shoulder from the twig).

"_Yo ho ho, and a bottle rum we go!_" He yelled out, for no reason other than to confuse the newly elected captain.

"Where did the bottle of rum come from?" Looking at America, Canada asked his question once his breathing had calmed down.

"Beats me…" America responded, allowing himself to break character for a moment. "I just heard it playing in Daddie and Pappa's room one night."

"Oh…" Canada placed his finger against his lips, "That makes sense to me."

"Yeah…. But never mind that! I have returned from Davie Jone's locker to take my ship back!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Canada smiled, twirling around out of America's next swing. He grabbed a spoon that was left on the top. He flashed it in defense, trying to ignore the strawberry pudding encrusted around the edges.

"Argh, my booty! Give it back ye scoundrel, tis the sword of Prince Abubu that I stole. By ye pirates law, tis mine!" America countered.

"Engarde!" Canada giggled, drawing his sword high into the air. America and Canada's match was short, with Matthew as the victor. America did not have enough time to declare a rematch, he could hear the school bell ring; meaning that recess was now over. He began to pout, jumping off of the playground, and slouching as he merged in with the crowd as they walked their classroom. The rest of the day seemed to go as usual.

"...and that's why I'm the best hero!" Little Alfred told Canada as they swing the pristine white door open and saw their parents at work in the kitchen. England was fixing something in a pan, and France was looking at something that was hidden from the toddler's view by the half wall

"Kids!" France said so it could England's attention, "Bonjour!"

"Yes, hello my lovely little darlings." England said with a smiling face. Turning his head from what he was working on he asked, "How was school today?"

"It was good! We gotta make cookies!" America said proudly.

"And we got to see Italy..." Matthew started to trail off, sniffing the air, "Is that maple syrup?" He asked hopefully, his eyes began to twinkle. England blinked, wondering to himself how the little colony could smell the unopened bottles.

"You can smell that?" France asked. Canada nodded, he always knew when there was maple syrup around.

"You must have left the bottle open." the mother like country replied, "Anyway what kind of cookies did you make?"

"No bake cookies!" Canada said, "And the lady didn't even use peanut butter!"

"Have you ever heard of a no bake without peanut butter in it?" England asked the other adult.

"Yes. I used to make them when I thought I was allergic to peanuts. Canada why don't you get the sugar for daddies from the pantry?"

"Okay daddie!" Canada cheered and hobbled towards the pantry; the scent of maple syrup only got stronger. "Waaaah!" The young country gasped, "It's a maple syrup paradise!"

He started to reach for the first bottle in site, but England gently swatted his hand away.

"Not now, we have to use the open one first."

"But-but daddie..." Canada whined, his blue eyes already wanting to burst with tears.

"No buts." He told the child.

The young colony sighed but nodded as a response.

"Alright daddie..."

"Now both of you should have homework to do." England said, "Get to it." The two boys nodded and went upstairs to their room.

**Glitter:** Well, that was fun!~~~

**Sebas-Chan:** Oh yes, fun indeed, I'm tired...can I go to bed now?

**Glitter: **No… it's snowing and you said we could build snowmen...don't make me sing it.

**Sebas-Chan:** Uh...what is this 'snow' you speak of? I live in Florida, we get rain and old people. And that's it.

**Glitter:** And that's why Minnesota wins… but whatever...I'm glad this chapter is done. You guys should hear us trying to read the accent. XD especially the french attempts...yeah it gets bad...

**Sebas-Chan:**It went from French, to German, to Russian, to Chinese, then American cause eff it!

**Glitter: **Don't forget the Scottish part too! hahaha….yeah don't ask us… even we don't know what goes on half the time.

**Sebas-Chan:**It was not a pretty sight….

**Glitter:** Better than my southern american interpretation, no?

**Sebas-Chan: ***feels blood trickling down my ears* Anyway…. We better not make this too long…...

**Glitter: **Right, silly me… Ok question! :) Do you guys like the little conversation thing we have going on? I do, and so does Sebas but we want your opinion too. Also, if you have anything to say feel free to do so. (Sebas is feeling withdrawals from lack of reviews on her side).

**Sebas-Chan:**I can speak for myself, thank you. And I don't need your pity! I get more views than you anyway!

**Glitter: ***rolls eyes* It's not pity….it's encouragement…and you didn't have to go that far…... Now why don't you tell these dear readers goodnight?

**Sebas-Chan: **Oyasumi nasai glitter no…. reader.

**Glitter: **We will try to be back in a couple weeks, have a good day everyone! Oh and Happy Thanksgiving! :D Don't die on Black Friday...I mean St. Shopper's Day.


	10. Chapter 10: Of Christmas and Apologies

**Glitterdreamer95:** So….hey! How are you guys! Long time no see, right? Okay, so maybe almost a year was a super super long time...but I promise there is a semi valid reason that Sebas will tell you!

**Sebas-chan001: **Wait, you're saying that our chapters DIDN'T post!? Ugh! This makes sense now. God, I feel so stupid…-.-

**Glitterdreamer95:** Riiight, we...uh happened to forget to hit publish! Darn, this whole time….. 9 months later.

**Sebas-chan001: **Well, actually, that wasn't the case at all… We. Kinda got sidetracked by another story….

**Glitterdreamer95:** Yeah I'm really sorry….so, so sorry. And then we kinda forgot to continue this because we were really inspired for this other one…..

**Sebas-chan001: **In our defense, it was a really good idea.

**Glitterdreamer95:** Is a really good idea, present tense, dear.

**Sebas-chan001:** I knew this story was doomed once you let me choose the rating. XD

**Glitterdreamer95: **Remind of that next time….So anyway, we wrote you two lovely new chapters to read! Unfortunately, they are the last ones…. As we are busy writing the new story! And yes, it will be posted eventually. We are writing it fully first.

**Sebas-chan001: **And all I'll say is that it's hilarious and that it's worth the wait.

**Glitterdreamer95:** Plus we are about halfway through anyway, but it is a longer one :D That's good news, right?

**Sebas-chan001: **Ja fraulein XD

**Glitterdreamer95: **Of course it is, Poppet!~~~

**Sebas-chan001: **-.-

**Glitterdreamer95: **I don't wanna keep you guys too long, this chapter is themed on Christmas!~~~~~ The most wonderful time of the year~~~~~

**Sebas-chan001: **Yeah! And to be honest, we had this written for months, we just got distracted and never finished it.

**Glitterdreamer95:** Well….mostly written

**Sebas-chan001: **Regardless, we did try to keep our promise on delivering a Christmas chapter.

**Glitterdreamer95:** In fact, we had a few more plans for this, but we've lost our inspiration for this a bit. Sad, I know, but it happens to the best of us. I think it is mostly from us writing this and posting at the same time. Something about the stress of posting a new chapter, really takes it out of you, you know?

**Sebas-chan001: **Anyway, we both wanted to thank everyone who stayed with us for this long. Seriously, we can't thank y'all enough.

**Glitterdreamer95:** And for those who continued to read it during our hiatus! We love you guys so much, which is why, instead of dropping this story off the face of the earth, we wrote you a nice ending. Anyway, we won't keep you, please enjoy the chapter!

"Pappa, Daddie!" Two very eager, and energetic young colonies bursted through the door of France and England's bedroom. They did not care that the two adults were still sleeping, their bodies lying motionless underneath the large comforter. Nor did they care about the ridiculous hour that it was in, their small bodies were filled with excitement. Today was an important day afterall. Canada and America charged towards the adults with as much speed as they could. "Wake up dudes, it's Christmas!"

"Ugh…" France was the first one to respond, since he endured America's elbows digging into his rib cage. Matthew, who decided to jump one second after Alfred, landed on England's legs; towards his calf area if we have to be precise.

"No fairy, don't go anywhere near that pirate! He's not protected! I know it!" Arthur gasped, shooting his body straight up like a bullet. His body was covered in a cold sweat, which was clearly visible since his upper torso was completely exposed.

"Um..." Canada gave England a questionable glance, tilting his head slightly towards the side.

"What the hel…..licopter are you two doing up this early?!" England demanded, granted sleepily toned. "Are you aware of what time it is?"

"It's Christmas, Daddie!" America responded with the largest smile on his face, one of the biggest grin the adults have ever seen for sure. "And Santa came! We have to see what he brought us!" by this point the little colony was desperate enough to tug at his father's arm; he started to grunt when he noticed that Arthur wouldn't budge.

"It is too early, loves. You have to wait until at least the sun is up to open anything Santa left." England told them, laying back down against his pillows. He had groaned when he had seen the ungodly time the clock read.

"But there's some orange in the sky! Doesn't that count?!" Alfred had Matthew check before they ran into their parents room.

"No!" England groaned once more, placing his arm over his eyes. _Just five more minutes…. _He said to himself. _That's all I want, just five more minutes.._

"But, Daddie, it's Christmas!" Canada widened his eyes sadly towards the Brit_. _He surely hadn't meant to look like an abandoned, let down puppy. England groaned again, trying to turn away from his son only to come face to face with a smirking Francis.

"Don't give me that look you twat." Arthur scowled, glaring at the man in front of him.

"Come on, Angleterre, can you not see how much this means to our boys?" England looked over his shoulder, noticing how round Canada and America's eyes looked.

"Oh alright…" Arthur sat up, stretching the muscles that had stiffened during his slumber, "But no one's opening anything until I've made my tea."

"Oh, we already got that covered, Daddie!" Matthew had a large grin on his face as he handed England a teacup from their tea set; telling the Englishmen that they had made it themselves. Arthur smiled, telling his children that what they had done was very thoughtful, and most generous.

When the father brought the cup to his lips, he could feel his body leaning backwards. As he glanced at the liquid that was inside the cup, he noted that the beverage was cold, and that the liquid was clear and not brown. Still, Arthur couldn't feel mad or annoyed towards the children, it was the thought that counted afterall.

"Mmmm Delicious, thanks boys." Britain smiled and rubbed the top of Canada's head while America pulled France, who was now sitting upright like England, by his arm; using all of the strength he had to get the adult out of bed. Both parents stood to their feet with long and tired yawns escaping their bodies.

"Come on, Daddie and Pappa, come on!" Alfred said excitedly, bolting out of his parent's bedroom, he could see the stairs growing nearer.

"America, no running in the house!" England called, "You could hurt yourself!"

"Wait for me, Alfie!" Canada began to giggle, squeezing his body past the two men to catch up to his brother.

"I am surprised zhat you did not react to Matthew giving you water." France muttered into his husband's ear, even though the action wasn't necessary since the children were out of view. "Zhat was so kind of you, mon cher. Do you you have a fever?"

"I'll give them a pass for today, it's Christmas after all." Arthur had a soft smile, ignoring his husband's rude comment, pressed against the corners of his lips, "Besides, I would have been more concerned if they actually touched the stove." The Frenchman nodded, telling the other blonde that it would have been much worse if they actually prepared the tea themselves. When the two adults made it down the stairs, they could hear their children whispering in excitement; plotting to each other which gift they would open first. While England was brewing the water for his tea, he warned the children not to open their gifts until they arrived. He could hear America booing from inside the living room, to which he said any child who disobeyed would not get any hot chocolate.

Once the tea and cocoa were finished, the family gathered in the living room on the floor. The children had already piled their gifts in front of them, and set out the parents' gifts in from of them.

"Cool I get to go first, right Daddie?"

"Why would you get to go first, Alfie?" Canada turned to his brother.

"Duh! Cause I'm the hero!" America said this in an obvious tone.

"Nuhuh! You said we're sidekicks now to MegaGuy."

"I said that so you would shut up." America told him straight up, with a roll of his eyes as if this fact had been obvious.

"Daaaaaad!" Canada pouted to the males. Clearly their squabble required adult intervention.

"America, you know how the rules go in this household." England stated, folding his arms across his chest until he felt the steam from his tea press against his face.

"But… But Daddie…" America, too, began to pout as he held one of his gifts tightly in his hands. The English nation shushed the small child, insisting that they needed to stick with the rules; he handed the child a small red die which was sitting in the middle of the coffee table. The family of four circled around the table and they each took turns in rolling the die, this was how they determined who would open their presents first. Canada was victorious this year, with his luck making him the first person to open their gifts. The order thereafter went as follows: England, France, and lastly America.

"Yay!" Canada smiled, grabbing for the first of his gifts.

"He cheated!" America tried, but was silenced by the adults, who then proceeded to roll their eyes at him.

Canada's presents consisted of a new set of hockey gear-including shiny new skates with little maple leaves embroidered on the sides, a new hockey stick (one not scratched up from practicing in the garage), and a helmet that was a little too big on his head. When Matthew tried it all on, and posed, the helmet slid to the left of his head.

America received some comics and a bunch of new action figures, all of them heroes or villains from his new favorite show- The Infinity Brothers. It was a show about 5 super powered heroes constantly fighting against their superpowered villains. America had taken a liking to it even since his favorite hero, MegaGuy, had appeared and joined the team's force.

The parents, who had not expected presents from their kids, opened theirs together. From Canada, the parents received two painted hand turkeys kissing, complete with hearts above their head. They were surprised to see that Matthew had also glued some fake feathers to the tail to make it more real. On the bottom of the drawing was a toddler note. It read, 'You don't have to fight anymore about who is taller, I made them the same height!-Matthew' in scribbly writing. From America, the parents received last year's christmas action figures. They were both supposed to be the same hero, although America had painted on of the dolls' eyes so that they would be green like England's (he had also drawn the eyebrows together because he claimed it made it more real). Each doll was equipped with some barbie cookware. One had a pink apron with lace, America claimed this was England's, and the other was brandishing a cooking pan. When asked about this, America said it was so Pappa could have an easier time teaching Daddie how to cook.

America and Canada insisted on the adults opening the presents from each other immediately as well. France obliged and received a registration form with the words "Calendar" scribbled across the page. The adults had a good chuckle out of this, while the kids looked on with curiosity. England opened his, only to find a maid's dress neatly folded inside (complete with tights, heels, and the hair piece). The Brit blushed at this, while France chuckled.

"I refuse to wear such clothing!"

"Daddie you should wear it!" America chimed.

"Yeah!" Canada agreed.

"You act like a mommy anyway so you should dress like one too!" America said, displaying his innocent child-like logic.

"Well...Be that as it may," England said, brushing off the comment, "I refuse to wear such scandalous clothing. This dress shows shoulders, ankles, _and_ knees!"

"I zink zhat it suits you, mon amour." France chimed, "Your figure would pull this off so beautifully. I would give you all the money in the world just to see you twirl for me."

"Hmph, says the man that wore dresses for over a century." The Brit grumbled.

"Fashion is as fashion does, mon amour. And I must say I did have the best, non?"

"I think you have a better sense of keeping your mouth shut." The new outfit, now laid wrinkled inside its box, was shoved away from everyone's sight. France began yet another round of his chuckles, which was starting to become obnoxious towards Arthur.

"Why so serious, Daddie?" America had asked once he saw his father's blush beginning to tone down, "I don't think Papa was serious when he got you that… I think that he was just joking!" The young hero turned his head towards the side, seeing his brother nodding with him in agreement.

"I thought it was pretty funny…" Matthew said timidly, "Did you think it was funny, Daddie?"

"Hilarious." Sarcasm could not have been more obvious in England's choice of words.

"Thank you Daddie!" Matthew giggled, jumping into England's arms.

"For what?" Arthur asked, confused.

"For the awesome presents!" Matthew stated, as though this were obvious.

"Yeah thanks! Now I can beat the bad guys with twice the hero power!" Alfred lifted his new toy hero into the air dramatically. Both of the parents had smiles presented on both of their faces. Watching their children play with their new presents brought more joy into their hearts than they could imagine; especially when they saw Matthew and Alfred playing cooperatively.

"Boom!" America shouted, pretending to explode at Matthew, "Die Captain Sticky!"

"Not today, Dr. Heroman! For I have a secret weapon!" Matthew said back, he was currently playing a giant hockey player that the bad guys had made, "There is no way you can defeat 'The Boulder'!"

Matthew tossed his helmet in between them, making some explosions for effect. In their minds, it was a giant rock-like villain who was super strong and would surely foil the heroes from saving the town. Obviously, he had a grudge against the hero, MegaGuy, because he destroyed the rocks near his house during one of his battles.

They continued like this, the heated battle making things close on both sides. The parents, for all the kids cared, had gone off into the kitchen.

"Lunch boys!" England called.

"Well, Captain Sticky, it looks as though our common enemy has appeared."

"Yes, now we have to work together or we will both….die!" Canada said dramatically clutching his hand over his heart, as well as his stomach.

They ran into the dining room, where their parents had laid out some food.

"Our arch-nemesis, broccoli!" The children cried, staring at the steaming green vegetable with horror set in their eyes.

"How can we ever defeat it?" Canada asked, "Do you think we should use maple syrup on it?"

"Never fear! The hero has a plan!" America looked around suspiciously before continuing, "He will never see us coming if we eat him quickly!"

"Yeah! Then Mistress Cake will no longer be captured!" Canada nodded, pointing to a literal white cake on one end of the table.

"No hockey sticks at the table, Matthew, you'll break something." England chided, glancing at the wildly waving object and then to the glass chandelier.

"Ah! A secret weapon!" America cried, "What is this monstrosity?!"

He pointed a finger at a pile of burned pastries. They were shaped like rocks, lumpy like them too. England gave America a hard look.

"America, how on Earth do you know what a monstrosity is?" England retorted, glancing at Francis because he already knew the answer to his question. "Who told you that word?"

"No! Our one weakness!" America continued, paying no mind to his father, and fiddling with the burned lump, "Captain Sticky, how can we defeat this?"

"I know! I will shoot it to the moon with my amazing hockey powers!"

"Well Alfred, old boy, looks like this will be the end for us…" America started to mumble to himself, sinking his head into his hands.

"Huyah!" Canada cried, swinging the hockey stick in the living room. It connected with the plate of 'scones', and flung them against the wall. The plate was shattered on impact and a few of the scones embedded themselves into the plaster. It was truly an impressive feat, coming from a child.

"Ca c'était quoi!?" France shouted from the kitchen, where he had returned to grab some potatoes, he whipped his head towards the sound. "J'ai entendu quelque chose! Tout le monde va bien?"

"I can't understand what Pappa's saying…." America muttered towards England, before the adult had rushed over towards his younger brother.

"Matthew, are you alright?!" Arthur began to ask once he reached the child, inspecting every nook and cranny for cuts and/or scrapes. "I told you not to swing that inside the house, and this is the consequence for disobeying me!" Once he made sure that Canada was fine, England dropped down to his knees and proceeded to pick up the shards. He started to mutter to himself, mentioning that the plate was one of his favorites.

"Why did no one answer me?" France said as he entered the room, a worried expression was set on his face.

"Because no one could understand you, you idiot."

"I heard a noise in here. I wanted to know what that was, and if everyone was alright."

"Yes, yes. We're all fine. We lost one of my mum's best plates, but Matthew and Alfred are both fine. I told Canada before hand not to swing that stick inside the house, and he chose not to listen."

"I'm sorry…." Canada whispered, his voice was too soft for either of the parents to hear.

"Arthur, I am sure that Matthew is sorry, oui?"

"Yes, I'm sorry…." Canada repeated, tears welling in his purplish eyes.

England made a 'hmpf' sound, "I really ought to do something about that."

"Angleterre, it is Christmas. Is it not the time for forgiveness?"

"That's Easter you twat!" England yelled, "But I do suppose you're right. Matthew, do it again and there shall be consequences, understand?"

"Yes, Daddie." The Canadian nodded his head with vigor, it filled him determination.

"Good, now let's eat and get this nasty business out of our heads."

After the family had enjoyed a lovely meal, that was thankfully cooked by Francis, England glanced over at his watch. He, unbeknownst to the children, gave France a knowing smile.

"Alright, children, it is time to go. We have an errand to run." The posh country stood from his seat and collected the used plates.

"There are no errands on Christmas!" America objected.

"On the contrary, Daddie ran out of canned bread and I'm afraid Christmas can't continue unless we go to the market and buy some more."

"Ugh! But why do we have to go?" America whined, rolling his head back and pouting, "It's not fair."

"Life's not fair, love, now chop chop. Get your coats so we can get this errand over with." Canada and America nodded in agreement, grabbing their coats like England had asked them.

The parents kept smiling at each other as the car went down the road. There was a light snow on the ground, and not very many cars. Outside it was peaceful and still, the wind wasn't blowing and the sun was shining. After a little while, the children looked out their windows. The countryside was going by now, pastures covered in light snow and footsteps from the cattle. The looked at each other, suddenly wondering what kind of errand they were on.

"Daddie…..we already passed the grocery store…." Canada pointed out, worried that his father might have gotten confused as to where they were going.

"Yes dearie, I'm well aware of that." England chimed pleasantly as he looked at his confused children with a content expression on his face. "We don't need to go to the market today."

"We don't?" Alfred asked, Francis, who was driving the family to their destination, shook his head. "Then are we going to the liquor store?"

"Alfred!" Arthur gasped, flabbergasted by the child's knowledge of that word. "How dare you say those words!"

"What? Pappa goes there all the time when he runs his 'errands'." The angered Brit turned his head towards his poor excuse of a husband, his eyes began to narrow as he witnessed the Frenchman shrug his shoulders. France muttered a carefree response under his breath, making the Englishman even more cross.

"Lousy drunken frog." With his arms folded stubbornly across his chest, and turning his head towards the window, Arthur remained silent until the car came to it's final start (just like a child who doesn't get his way).

"This isn't an errand!" America and Canada accused as they jumped out of the car, taking in the large zoo sign over the entrance.

"Oh, it's not?" Arthur looked around their surroundings with a slightly confused expression. "Oh dear me, that is odd. Oh well, perhaps we can turn this into an errand, if that is what you wish." The adult could hear one of his children shush the other, he wasn't sure who was shushing who. But still, the small act caused the corners of his lips to curl upwards.

"No! I wanna have fun!" America said, suddenly smiling because he didn't have to participate in boring adult stuff.

"If you say so." England and France both held their children both by their hands and slowly made their way towards the iron gates. Snow had begun to descend toward the ground as the four entered the nearly deserted area.

As they reached the turnstyle, the person behind a counter looked up at them lazily. They looked a little put out that they had to put down their gossip magazine they'd been reading.

"Can I help you?" They asked slowly, uninterested in the family's presence.

"4 tickets for the zoo please. Two adults, and two children. Although," Britain said, glancing at his husband, "Might want to consider making that three children and one adult with this one."

"One moment." They said in a bored tone, rolling their eyes once England said his joke.

"Excusez-moi!?" France asked, placing a hand against his chest. "Mon cher, for a moment, you made my heart feel like it was splitting apart!"

"Yeah, yeah, put a sock in it already you overdramatic toad." Arthur, who had already taken out his wallet to pay for the tickets, was already quite fed up with France's melodrama. The long haired country appeared to be more offended and wounded than before, this time he sank to his knees; burying them deep inside the chilling snow.

"Papa's acting all funny again." Canada whispered into his brother's ears with giggles bouncing into the air.

"And we didn't have to go to a liquor store either!" America also decided to whisper, so his father would have a difficult time listening to what they were saying.

"Here you go sir," The employee said, handing some tickets and pamphlets over the counter, then sarcastically added, "Hope you have a terrific visit, and make sure to visit our special Santa's Helpers exhibit."

"Right, thanks. Come on now boys… And you too, frog." France was still on his knees when England and the kids started to move forward. His knees were covered in cold water, but as the nation looked down and saw the laughter on his children's faces; he decided that his actions were worth it. The family of four continued to walk across the brick sidewalks until they came up to their post with multiple exhibit signs pointing in every direction.

"Right oh then, say lads, where shall we venture off to first?" Arthur inquired.

"Daddie! Reindeer! There's reindeer!" Canada squeaked, pointing to a paddock with red ribbons and bells. Where indeed there was a small grouping of reindeer. America and him took off at a sprint, toward the creatures.

"Boys! Boys watch yourselves!" England called out to them, "There might be ice on the-"

"SANTA!" The adults heard America cry out happily, ignoring the call of his parents. Quickly after Britain was interrupted, America slipped and fell on his backside. He didn't say anything, only got up and continued his running, because when Santa was around, nothing would stop America from visiting.

"Sacrebleu!" France muttered to himself once he and his husband caught up to their children. They had witnessed one of their children fall on the iced pavements, and they began to ask if the child was alright. Of course, this question fell towards deaf ears once America's blue eyes saw the jolly man's red suit.

"Ho, ho ho!" The santa said, "Hello kids, how are you?"

"I'm Alfred!"

"I'm Matthew!" Canada said this much quieter than his brother.

The two had no regard to the norm of small talk pleasantries, and as such they had ignored what the Santa had asked them. America jumped on to the lap of Santa, while his brother grabbed the Santa's legs and hugged them tightly.

"Oh, yes, I know kids! How is your Christmas? Did you like your presents?"

"Yes! Mine were the best!" America proclaimed proudly, "How did you know?"

"Well, the elves told me of course! So did your letters."

"You got my letter?" Canada asked, his eyes wide in awe.

"Of course I did!" With a hearty laugh, Santa responded to the children.

"Woah! See? Told ya, Alfred!" Canada said to his brother, remembering when they had previously discussed santa letters. America had been adamant that England and France were the only ones to read them and that Santa didn't care enough to do so. Well, Santa sure showed him!

"Psh, whatever." The older brother murmured.

"Mr. Santa? Can we pet the reindeer?"

Santa laughed again, holding his belly, "Of course you can! They love seeing all the kids." America jumped off of Santa's lap and bounced in excitement, Canada unclasped his grasp from Santa's leg and did likewise.

The kids, followed by Santa, went next to one of the reindeer that was attached to a white and red post with Christmas lights. Santa held the deer's reigns and told the kids to be gentle with their petting. The fur was soft for the kids, which amazed them. They never thought that traveling in the air at magically speeds would allow for such soft fur. Santa even held up America and Canada to pet the antlers, those were fuzzy too.

England and France asked if they could take pictures of the kids with the jolly fellow, and of course he said yes (after they handed him some money). The best picture they took was of the two kids atop Santa's shoulders and the reindeer next to him. Their smiles were bright and vibrant. It was the sort of photo one would look at for years to come, especially at the graduation parties because embarrassing kids turned adults is a fun pastime.

"Someday, I will be taller than you, Santa!" America declared as the jolly man set them down onto the ground.

"And I wanna be Santa!" Canada told the Santa.

"Oh, ho ho ho ho! Perhaps someday I'll train ya myself to be me!" Santa said, patting the top of Canada's head, "Until then, you just keep dreaming, ok Matthew? And remember to always be good!"

"Ok! I can do that!" Canada said excitedly.

"Well, Santa has to get to the other kids now, but I'll see ya around ok?" Santa said, motioning for them to exit the back of the exhibit and going back to his chair to greet the next child.

"Well, did you kids have fun with our errand?" England asked as they walked away.

"Yeah! It was a blast!" Alfred said excitedly, he held both of his parents' hands as they walked towards their car.

"And you Canada?" England asked the young colony, "What did you think?"

"I thought it was great, eh?" Canada replied with a sleepy smile.

"I had a wonderful time as well, especially standing behind your gorgeous specimen of a father." France wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, which was lost on the kids, for the most part.

"Come off it you oaf!" Arthur glared at the Frenchman, bringing his fist into the air.

"I'd rather come on if you catch my drift." England's face began to grow a dark shade of red.

"Come on to what?" America and Canada asked.

"N-nothing!" The Brit stammered, "That's enough of this discussion… Forever."

"Or at least until later tonight," France whispered to his husband, "Alright! Who wants to go home and read a bedtime story?" This last part France aimed towards the kids, as they buckled them into their seats in the car.

The travel home was relatively silent, as the kids were falling asleep and the Brit was fuming about his husband, and how he'd embarrassed him in front of said kids. France drove the majority of the way humming to his favorite Christmas tunes, and stealing glances at England. Regardless of what England said, he began to blush at the suggestive looks. When they arrived, the kids awoke to climb out of the car and head inside.

From there it was mostly a task of getting them ready for bed. America refused to brush his teeth, claiming that heroes didn't do such a thing, their teeth were naturally perfect. Canada obliged to this, but became upset over his missing red maple leaf footie pajamas, to which England and France hurriedly searched the house for them. When they ended up finding them in the child's laundry basket, after searching the rest of the house, they were both relieved and astonished.

It took a while for the kids to settle down again, but once they did, England go out one of the books from their bookshelf and read to them a pirate story. Unbeknownst to the children, it was a kid-friendly version of one of his adventures as a pirate. It was a tale of treasure and another pirate going after the same one. Canada dropped off after the first sword fight, falling away into the land of dreams. It took America slightly longer, as he fought away his sleep in order to hear more of the tale. Unfortunately, he too did not make it to the end. As England was coming across a rather intriguing part of capture, America nodded off, his head falling against his father's arm. With a sigh, England closed the book and maneuvered himself away from his sleeping sons. He and France tucked them into their blankets, and left their room as quietly as possible.

It was not late enough for the adults to go to bed yet, so they stayed up and watched a couple of movies, debating on who's was better, France insisted he had the best romance, while England insisted he had the best mysteries. And so another Christmas ended in the household, and everyone was happy and at peace.


	11. Chapter 11: The Finale

The school bell filled the air, and dozens of little kids bursted out of the front doors. Summer vacation had now officially arrived, the two colonies could feel their excitement bubbling inside their bodies. As they hobbled down the stairs for the last time this school year, they had large grins plastered across their faces. They were excited that the year was over, and that they had a whole vacation where they could do whatever they wanted.

"Pappa! Daddie!" Canada squealed, his body began to shake with excitement as he and his brother ran towards their parents; who were waiting patiently for them by the flagpole.

"Bonjour Matthew." France chimed, rubbing the Canadian's hair with the palm of his hand.

"And hello to you too Alfred." Arthur began to smile, he grabbed the boy's backpacks, making their way towards their car. "Did you have a marvelous last day of school?"

"Yeah Daddie, it was awesome!" Alfred declared, his mind began to replay all the events that happened in the short span of time. "We had a party!"

"Is that so?" England gave his husband a side glance, he couldn't help but smile as he heard how excited his son was to recite his day. "Do tell."

"We had a lot of fun! Miss Dancer brought us maple cookies." Canada chirped, recalling how sweet the cookies tasted when he first brought them to his lips. "She said that her friend made them for us."

"Yeah, they were so good! Pappa, could you make some for us?" After the children were buckled in, and their parents had shut their car doors, England gave France a glare that would have sent any normal man to his grave. France smirked as his response, he loved the fact that his children blurted out the fact that he was the superior chef.

"We'll have to see." Francis responded once he and Arthur got inside the vehicle, "I can't do it if Daddie won't let me in the kitchen."

"This summer I'm taking cooking lessons." The Brit muttered under his breath, stubbornly folding his arms over his chest, and staring out the window beside him.

"Daddie, you say that every year.." Canada bluntly pointed out, there was a soft chuckle that escaped his throat, causing the nation's face to burn a dark shade of red.

"Yeah, and you don't learn anything!" America stated, causing the Brit's blush to get worse. France turned on the ignition and soon shifted the gears. With a smile on his face, the French nation declared that Arthur's cooking had actually gotten worse since he started cooking lessons.

"That's… That's only because you laugh every time I do something wrong!" England stated, glaring his eyes at France (since he was England's cooking instructor, which was already humiliating enough).

"Who confuses sugar with salt?" Francis hummed, running his index finger under the flustered nation's chin. With embarrassment now completely taking over his body, England called his husband a "Poor excuse for an instructor." and refused to say a word until the family pulled into their driveway.

….

"Boys, would you mind coming here for a moment?" After an hour of being home, England finally broke his silence and called the boys downstairs. The two colonies ran down the stairs, even though they knew England told them to never do such a thing. "How many times must I tell you to never run down those stairs? You two could seriously injure yourselves."

"What did you need to tell us, Daddie?" America asked the English nation, completely ignoring the comment that he had made about running down stairs. The older nation heaved a heavy sigh, placing his palm over his face.

"I invited Italy, his father, and his uncle over for a little get together." Arthur watched his kid's faces as they lit up into smiles. "So please, get yourselves ready. They should be here at any moment. And no running!"

"Ok! I'll go get the pool floaties, we can use the pool, right Daddie?" Canada asked jumping up and down on the tops of his toes.

"Of course you can, Matthew."

"Sweet!" The Canadian cried, rushing to his bedroom.

"I call the water guns!" America called, racing after his brother and quickly catching up. England wondered how long it would be before America, too, was interested in joining sports. Perhaps Football, or American Football, or Basketball. Shaking his head, he made to return to the kitchen, only to find his husband in his way.

"Francis, we agreed, I get to participate in making the food for the party." The Brit told him tersely.

"But I feel as though the party requires other setup, Arthur," France took his chin playfully, "I was thinking fetching the alcohol from the shop?"

"We had an agreement, Francis! I get to bake the cupcakes and scones." England told him adamantly, shaking his head from his husband's grasp. He attempted to walk around his husband, only to be spun around and, in a very graceful move, suddenly kissing his second half.

"Please, just this one favor, and I swear that I will never ask for anything again!" France murmured, breaking the kiss between the two.

England rolled his eyes, "I very much doubt that." He told his husband shortly, "But if you insist…. Very well. But I expect the scones to be perfect, just like my mumsie used to do! And I'm making a full course meal for our next party!"

"Of course, I would not dare to break such an incredible recipe." France promised his husband, shooing him over to the garage door with a smile; handing him the keys to their car.

It was not long before the Brit had returned, with about 6 paper bags of alcohol, mostly beer and some wine. He had not been sure which beer the German countries would prefer, so he had grabbed a few different brands. They would have to be enough, he decided, because he refused to go back and purchase more of the drink. The clerk already thought he was the town drunk. So if what he bought wasn't to their liking, then the Germans would have to go home sober. It couldn't have been more simple. He brought the last load of bags indoors, setting them in the kitchen. The colonies were playing with their imagination, he could hear the shouts of triumph from somewhere in the house.

"Well?" England asked, turning to his husband as France pulled a pan out from the oven, the heat surrounded the Brit, he waved it away like a pesky fly.

"Well, what, Angleterre?" France hummed, closing the oven with a bump from his hip and gracefully setting the hot pan down.

"Well, let's see those scones you promised me."

"They are on the counter over there." France gestured to the countertop to the right of their refrigerator. England made his way over there, and peered down at the seemingly perfect pastries. A frown crossed his face.

"They aren't done enough." England commented, behind him France rolled his eyes, "Not dark enough around the edges."

"I am sorry, but something in me will not allow me to burn things to a crisp, Arthur. They are perfect, I followed your mother's recipe word for word, I assure you." England huffed as his husband tried to reassure him.

"Burned to a crisp?" England replied flatly, turning to face his spouse, arms folding across the soft cotton of his shirt and his face looking unamused, "Whatever could you have meant by that? I will have you know that the children love my cooking."

"Well, you certainly do not give them a chance to object." France murmured, low enough that the Brit would not hear him and more audibly he told him, "Of course."

The doorbell went off and the sound of children's footsteps running down the stairs came to the adults attention. England went into the next room, to answer the door and tell the children off for running on the stairs again. Meanwhile, France put the finishing touches on the orderves and threw some of the beers into the fridge. Inside, there were already a couple that were cold, so he pulled them forward and stuffed the warm ones in the back.

Prussia and Germany came into the kitchen, Germany carrying a plastic container. France greeted them, as only France could, and took the container with a smile.

"You did not have to bring anyting!" France told them, "But thank you anyway."

"We brought the best vurst, because zhis cannot be a decent gathering without it!" Prussia declared, instinctively making his way toward the refrigerator. He pulled out a cold beer, and popped the top off with his thumb, somehow, then proceeded to take a big gulp from the top, commenting, "Hey, not bad for you guys."

"I suppose I shall have to take that as a compliment." England announced his presence in the small kitchen with a dry remark. Prussia shrugged, and it was clear that was the closest to a compliment the host couple would be getting from him.

"Shall we go outside? Zhat way, zhe children may play in the pool." France suggested, grabbing a couple plates of snacks and gesturing for the other adults to follow suit.

Outside, Prussia put his drink down and tore off his shirt and shorts. Apparently, he had been excited for the pool party because instead of underwear underneath the shorts, he was sporting a pair of swim trunks. He ran into the pool, creating a large splash of water that washed over the edges. He proceeded to call for France to join him and have a water breathing contest. Of course, never one to let down an opportunity to strip his shirt, France obliged, abandoning his plates of snacks on a table. England showed Germany their grill, so that the bratwursts would be able to be cooked. Meanwhile, the children entered, unbeknownst to the adult countries and borrowed Prussia's beer, then stole back inside the house.

"Come one guys, one more time! To kick off the summer!" America reassured his companions as they went into the kitchen. He scooted a chair next to the sink and climbed up, he was too short to see into the sink otherwise. With a smile back at Canada and Italy, who happened to be full on board with this idea, he dumped away the Prussian's beer, "Mattie grab the apple juice!"

Canada fetched the jug of juice from the refrigerator, handing it to America so he could pour it in the bottle to replace the beer. The bottle was still stinky of the adult drink, but the apple added a sweetness to it. When the bottle was full, he handed the jug to Canada and the bottle to Italy.

"It'll be less suspicious if you put it back, Italy. Then meet us by the poolside!" America winked, and he and Canada left. Italy followed suit, walking out as casual as a short little kid could, putting the bottle back where they had grabbed it from and going near the pool.

Prussia, the decided winner of the little competition, decided that it was time for a celebration. He climbed out of the pool and pushed his wet hair back in such a way that it mimicked Germany's hair style; he even decided to mock the German in how he spoke. Germany, however, was much too busy to notice, as he was cleaning the grill before it could be used to make the food. The Prussian sighed and made his way back to the table, where the snacks and his beer sat. Without hesitation, he threw back a big gulp of the liquid. He quickly spat it out, spraying it into the air.

"Vest! Vhat zhe hell do you zhink this is!? Are you trying to avenge yourself from vhat I did to you vhen you vent on zhat tomato diet?" Prussia looked up angrily from his drink, an appalled look crossing his face.

"Despite popular beliefs, I actually have no idea vhat zhe hell you're talking about." Germany said, though he motioned to the two colonies and Italy, who were giggling by the pool.

"Grrr! Verdammt noch mal kleine gören! Dies ist das letzte mal war, das sie mit dem genial Preußen durcheinander werde!" Prussia yelled at them, German spewing from his lips because he had momentarily forgotten how to speak English.

"What?" America asked, the sass clung to that single word. England had half a mind to tell him off for such an attitude.

"Oh, he said 'Damn you brats!" Italy supplied helpfully. "The last part, I don't really know… To be honest with you. Prussia says damn you brats a lot. But, if I have to guess based on Mr. Germany looks right now, I'd say it isn't good….."

"Brother..." Germany said in a warning tone. "Let zhe kids have zheir fun."

"Might I remind you who is the oldest, Vest?" Prussia then proceeded to tackle the kids and tickle them without remorse.

"No, no! The mean old silver hair man has captured us! Pappa! Daddie! Help us!" Canada said between fits of innocent laughter.

"Yeah.. Daddie… Help!" England and France both look at their children, and didn't sense any hint of danger; so they shrug it off with simple smiles. Prussia then began to chuckle and took the two laughing boys to the pool, and promptly tossed them in, with proper warning of course.

"Weeee! I'm Superman!" America cried whilst in the air, completely ignoring Prussia's advice on holding his breath.

"Look at me! I'm a floating maple leaf!"

"Hasta la Pasta!" Germany and Prussia both tossed the Italian into the pool, sparkles appeared all around the young country as he flew towards the water.

"That. Was. Awesome!" America declared after his face emerged from underneath the liquid. "Did you see me, pops, did you see me!?"

"Yeah…" Canada too chimed in, "Did you see us Pappa?"

"Ja, because I caused it." Prussia stated matter of factly.

"Yes, you two were brilliant." England called, sipping his tea that he made while the entire fiasco occurred.

"Daddie! Pappa! I wrote a song while I was in the pool! You wanna hear it?"

"Of course we do Matthew!" France and England told him, watching the little colony glow as he sang:

_I'm a little maple, cute and sweet_

_Here is moosie, here are his feet!_

_When I'm playing hockey, hear my shouts._

"_Rawr!", "Hurray!", and "I did it!" _

He presented his song with a large grin on his face. The adults applauded the young colony after he was done, praising him for the song.

"That was wonderful, Canada, well done!" Their parents praised, smiles of pride on their faces.

"Psh! You call that a song?" America said with his eyes rolling into the back of his head. "I know a song that's ten thousand times more better than your stupid maple song!"

"Oh, _really_?" England responded, dramatically folding his arms across his chest and raising an eyebrow, "Do enlighten us, boy. We haven't got all day."

"Uh.. Umm…" America looked nervously around him, singing:

_I'm your greatest hero, yep that's me!_

_Saving everyone is my specialty. _

_Whether it be from fires or Pappa's tea._

_You know you can always count on me. _

_The hero! Pshhhhhhh! Wooossshhhh! _

England erupted in a fit of laughter, going so far as to bend his upper torso forwards, and supporting his body with his knees.

"Hey…" America said, his eyes filled with water, "That's not funny…"

"Oh, I know my boy, I know." England continued to laugh, appearing to be the largest asshole in the group, "I'm not laughing at your song, Alfred, I promise. I'm laughing at your comment towards your father's tea!" England laughed some more, "Because that couldn't have been more true!" France gave his husband a harsh and offended expression. "Oh lighten up you old ballock and admit that was hilarious!"

"Zhat is because it is not tea, but zhe fine art of coffee!"

"Well, we all have our prides and failures, except for you, I'm afraid. Are you still searching for something you can be proud with?"

"My two sons." France replied, looking at his boys, who were now distracted and occupying themselves by having a splash war.

"Well, I do see your point." England was now sitting on his patio chair, Germany and Prussia went back to drinking their beer while they began to cook wurst. "Do you think we've done a good job in raising them?"

"Zhere is no such thing as a good job raising the young, but we did the best we could."

"Like any parent, I only want the best for my children. Look at them Francis. They're so young, so innocent, surely the real world will no match for them. At least, that's what my mind keeps telling me at night…"

"Worry not, mon amor, for we will be there when they fall, and when they rise. We will be with them when they laugh and when they cry. They will grow, and soon they will be off being adults. But for now, we have them here. Young and beautiful and still learning. These are the times we must remember when they start to push the limits. No matter what happens we will get through it all." France placed his hand over England's, and looked him deep into his green eyes. "Like a family."

"You know, for a frog, you're a horrible actor." Tears began to swell into the Brit's eyes, for he knew what his husband said was the truth. "Thank you. I needed that laugh." France then brought England's hand towards his lips, and kissed his knuckles tenderly.

"No matter what happens, no matter what comes in our path. We will get through it, and we will emerge victoriously; just like we always do. I love you, Arthur Kirkland."

"And I-" England was suddenly interrupted when the kids tackled them with a set of giggles, yelling out for a hug attack. Which is exactly what they did, and England and France hugged them back. That's just how things were, it didn't matter if a certain family did things one way, or if the neighbors across the street were different as well. All that truly mattered was that this family had each other, and that was how things were going to stay; till the end of their days.

**Glitterdreamer95: **Welcome to the ending of the story! I really hoped you liked it. I know it is sad to see a story coming to a close, but at the very least there won't be any waiting for the next chapter! :D

**Sebas-chan001: **Yeah, at least now you guys won't have to worry about what's going to happen next.

**Glitterdreamer95:** But I would like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. Sebas and I really appreciate it :D It was super helpful to keep us motivated, honestly you guys are the reason this story gets an ending! We just couldn't leave you!

**Sebas-chan001: **You know, just a few weeks ago I got an email saying that someone favorited this story….

**Glitterdreamer95:** Exactly, thank you guys so much! This story was a lot of fun to write, but everything comes to an end….just for things to start! :D Sebas and I have an announcement for you!

**Sebas-chan001: **Like we mentioned in the last chapter, that we have been busy on working on a new story! And so, we both thought that it would be a good idea to give you a little sneak peak of what we've been working on! We really hope that you enjoy it! Warning there is some swearing! So for those who aren't familiar with my work, cover thine ears and look away! Thank you all so much for reading our stories, we love you!

"Didn't horror games teach _anything? _Especially not to open strange doors?!" Jasmine tried to stop her best friend from opening said strange door, but she was promptly ignored.

"Didn't horror games teach you not to open strange doors!" Aubrey said, clearly mocking Jasmine to the best of her abilities. Her hand was now grasping onto the door knob, "What are you expecting, poppet? An old and busted….." _Oh… My….. Fucking God! _She placed her hand over her lips, her crystal blue eyes widening in shock; she could feel her body starting to hyperventilate. _ Heh...Heh...Heh.. My fangirl senses….. Are activating! Must…. Resist…. The urge… To scream! Hehhehhehhehe…._

Jasmine was relieved when a wave of roses did not come out to greet them, handling _another_ host club would have been quite tiresome. She couldn't see into the room, but knew they were either in big trouble or something really good was going to happen, because Aubrey began taking rapid breaths in and out.

"Aubrey? What's going on?" Jasmine asked, really hoping the former option was not what was behind the door. It would be their luck, though, all things considered. She tried to move her friend out of the way to see, but was too slow as the space was suddenly empty. Aubrey had been grabbed inside the room by a quick hand. Jasmine tried to move into the doorway, but a blonde head peered out of the door.

"There's another one out here!" He called to the room, blue eyes sparkling behind glasses, "Don't worry dudette I gotcha!"

Jasmine let out a little 'eep!' as a strong hand grabbed her and she was dragged into the room as well. She blinked, at the lighting change and felt herself freeze._ Why do these people look so very familiar_….she asked to herself, her eyes traveling around the table (which seated a great number of people along its edges). Everyone's gaze was held steadily in their direction, both questioning looks and annoyed faces met her gaze. Her hazel eyes came back to rest on the man who had pulled her in. _Blonde hair, brown jacket, absurd pile of hamburgers…..wow,who really needs that many hamburgers?_

**~Coming soonish- to a website near you! **


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